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Texture App: Will It Succeed In Changing The Way People Read Magazines? The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Maggie Murphy, Editorial Content Director, Texture.

March 15, 2016

“The challenge of magazines these days is that we’re delivering them the same way that we did 50 years ago. There’s a guy with a truck and a newsstand (Laughs); it’s not an efficient way. This is a good way. I believe there will always be things that you want on paper, but I don’t think that means that we can’t have this experience digitally.” Maggie Murphy

What Spotify is to music, Texture is to magazines, or so the powers-that-be at Texture by Next Issue say, especially the App’s editorial content director, Maggie Murphy. Maggie comes from a long background in print, having been editorial director and content strategist at Parade and content consultant at Time Inc. Her love for magazines knows no boundaries. And with the Texture App, which is a joint venture formed by six leading publishers – Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp., Rogers Communications and Time Inc., she gets to show her love and adoration to 200 different magazines at a time rather than just one.

Next Issue Media is the start-up company behind the Texture App. At the core of Next Issue’s offerings are the Texture Apps for iPad® and iPhone®, Android™ and Windows® 8 PCs and tablets, and offers a digital reading experience that gives the reader an all-access pass to the world’s best magazines.

Maggie is a strong believer in the app and believes that this is an alternative that can work in conjunction with other digital media and with print as well, to give the reader a better and more diverse experience.

I spoke with Maggie recently and we talked about Texture and the ability the app gives its readers to buy single-copy stories or immerse themselves fully into their favorite magazines; it’s all about giving them choice. Through the sampling, Maggie believes that many titles that consumers wouldn’t normally buy, they might on the other hand purchase one article or story that catches their eye and a new customer is born. It is a very interesting concept that may be the answer to developing a new digital revenue stream that actually works. It certainly shows promise and hope.

So, I hope you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Maggie Murphy, Editorial Content Director, Texture, as she shares her hopes and dreams for the app that presents the magazines she loves in a most interesting and diverse way.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the differences in experience between accessing something on an article by article basis versus having an actual magazine in hand: It was getting harder and harder to find magazines, especially in New York, and I never seemed to have one in my hand when I wanted to read one. And carrying around my device and just loading the app, I was suddenly able to read things that I hadn’t in months. There was everything I loved about Real Simple at my fingertips; there was The New Yorker; Vogue; just everything. And I think it made me actually an even more diverse reader, for instance, the app’s connection and our relationship with Rogers Communications, which is one of our owners; I was going to read Maclean’s and Maclean’s take on the U.S. election is fascinating.

On whether she feels there’s a difference in experiences when it comes to actually holding a magazine to read, versus not having that weight in your hand: I feel a digital experience delivers to me quality content, and the second thing about it is that I can share that content. I’m running around over time; I’m trying to simplify my life, and I come across a story in Marie Claire that I really think my niece would love, I can send that to her in one step. I think you’re going to have people who will always love the feel of paper; they appreciate it, but the reality is that when it comes to the visual experience, the iPad does a wonderful job of giving me a beautiful image of National Geographic. It looks as vibrant on the screen as when I would produce a magazine.

On whether she agrees with the statement some publishers have made that the tablet and the homepage are dead: (Laughs) No, I don’t. I think just like the lyrics in one Bruce Springsteen song says: everything that dies one day grows back. I believe there was incredible bitterness and disappointment in the arrival of the tablet and how it was supposed to save magazines, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case. But I think there was too much too soon, before the reader was ready. And I don’t believe the technology was as nimble as our ambitions.

On the total number of magazines available on the app: We’re closing in on 200 magazines and recently we added the Reader’s Digest team, along with The Atavist, so we’re covering from every spectrum. And we have all of the partners’ brands, so that’s all of the magazines from Time Inc., from Sports Illustrated to People to EW and of course Time magazine. We have Condé Nast and all of their brands, such as Bon Appétit, Vogue and The New Yorker. We have all of Hearst’s wonderful titles, like Marie Claire, Esquire, Town & Country and we have titles outside our partners.

On how she feels her job has changed since her days as editor of Parade, where she created content, to her role today as a curator of content: Today Texture isn’t creating content, but I don’t think that’s off the table. I believe that could be a long-term goal and I especially think as we look at how wonderful things like The Atavist’s Mastermind is doing, that’s a model that we’re intrigued by. Fundamentally, when I said that I wanted to be a journalist, to me, that meant that I wanted to work in magazines and I am working in magazines. And I think I’m working in magazines at a time and with a platform that shows a different way to go forward.

On why someone would pay money to access content through Texture when they can get it for free on most magazine websites: What we believe is for someone who is looking for that magazine experience, and people love magazines; what we’re saying is this is a way to get all of them at your fingertips, just like there is in a Netflix model or a satellite radio model and there’s a fee for that so that we can make sure that we can continue to pay for it and continue a revenue model.

On what she’d like to say she had accomplished a year from now with Texture: The biggest problem we face right now is just that people don’t know that we exist. We’re doing our very best to get the message out there. We’re working with our owners, who have been incredibly supportive by really investing in the brand, and really updating it. We’re working on a mobile adaptive so that we’re really able to deliver magazine content in a mobile-friendly manner for the phablet that is to come. And I think it’s just really giving magazine lovers choice, of saying here’s another way.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the morning: I still get to discover great stories; that’s what I like about it. I was talking to friends one day and they asked me why I got into this business. I simply told them: I love magazines. I thought it would be cool to work on magazines. And today I’m not working on simply one; I’m working on 200 of them. I want to see these magazines succeed. From the way that they are put into the app; the way pulling out a story delivers a message; to the push notifications. We’re championing great reading.

On selling content story-by-story instead of offering the entire experience: One of the main ways people read many brands is cover to cover. They’ll go into the app, they love the magazines that are their favorites, and they read cover to cover and we see that in our data. However, by offering them singles, we’re potentially offering them the chance to sample something that they might not. And in fact, one of the more interesting aspects after the horrible Paris attacks; we collected stories together about how Islamic terrorism might have come to Paris. And there’s a piece from The New Yorker and a piece from Time about why did this happen; what’s going on. And there was a piece from Vogue about the wives and female jihadists. And a number of people said to me: I would have expected that piece from The New Yorker; I would have expected that piece from Time, but I didn’t know that was in Vogue, and it gave me a new appreciation of Vogue.

On what keeps her up at night: People believing that the only way to get great magazine content is a website; that’s not the case anymore. We’re here; we have a great product and it’s improving every single day and I just want more people to know about it.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ Interview with Maggie Murphy, Editorial Content Director, Texture.

Samir Husni: Recently there was some news about Texture, that now you can view it on a horizontal screen as opposed to only vertical. And you’re also signing digital-only magazines, so as one who was so involved in the print component of a magazine; how do you access the feeling of reading something article by article versus having an actual magazine in your hand?

Maggie Murphy: That’s a great question. I have really loved reading as many magazines as I get to do, thanks to the Texture app. That was my reintroduction to it because I had worked at Time Inc. when the original idea was invented by John Squires and he had worked with a consortium of publishers to get them to sign on. But I hadn’t really looked at the app until last spring and when I opened it up I thought to myself, oh my gosh, where has this been?

It was getting harder and harder to find magazines, especially in New York, and I never seemed to have one in my hand when I wanted to read one. And carrying around my device and just loading the app, I was suddenly able to read things that I hadn’t in months. There was everything I loved about Real Simple at my fingertips; there was The New Yorker; Vogue; just everything. And I think it made me actually an even more diverse reader, for instance, the app’s connection and our relationship with Rogers Communications, which is one of our owners; I was going to read Maclean’s and Maclean’s take on the U.S. election is fascinating.

So, I think that we’re moving to a more accepting place, that this is one way that we have our phones with us all the time and I can’t count on always being able to find a magazine in paper, but I can truly always have a magazine at my disposal thanks to the app.

Samir Husni: Do you think that the experience changes; do you get the same feeling when you’re flipping through the pages of a magazine, feeling the weight of Vogue in your hand, as opposed to not feeling the weight? Does that make a difference in that experience?

Maggie Murphy: I look at that question very differently than some do. I would often hear readers penalize magazines because they weren’t thick, even though the content was good, if not better, and the reason they weren’t thick anymore may have had to do with, not the status or the quality of the work, but because of the way the advertising industry had changed.

And I feel a digital experience delivers to me quality content, and the second thing about it is that I can share that content. I’m running around over time; I’m trying to simplify my life, and I come across a story in Marie Claire that I really think my niece would love, I can send that to her in one step.

I think you’re going to have people who will always love the feel of paper; they appreciate it, but the reality is that when it comes to the visual experience, the iPad does a wonderful job of giving me a beautiful image of National Geographic. It looks as vibrant on the screen as when I would produce a magazine.

That was always actually really interesting; we would use E-readers, as everybody does, to check proofs. You go through the magazine in your last hours before you pushed the button and you’d flip through it. It’s the last stage most editors go through. And the colors were always so vibrant. And sometimes paper would not always print as we’d hoped. And for me, I feel the transition is here and the up side of it is tremendous. The availability; the grasp and the range that is always with me outweigh any charm of having a bundled-up magazine or newspaper in my pocket.

Samir Husni: Last May I took a group of my students to New York and we attended a conference where one magazine publisher after another said that the tablet was dead; the homepage was dead, and it was now all about mobile, videos and notifications. Do you agree with that statement?

Maggie Murphy: (Laughs) No, I don’t.

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Maggie Murphy: I think just like the lyrics in one Bruce Springsteen song says: everything that dies one day grows back. I believe there was incredible bitterness and disappointment in the arrival of the tablet and how it was supposed to save magazines, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case. But I think there was too much too soon, before the reader was ready. And I don’t believe the technology was as nimble as our ambitions.

But now as we move toward something that looks more like a phablet, you know it’s not that far from a mini iPad; I feel that the ultimate reason I don’t agree with that statement is that the magazine-reading experience, that narrative, is told with pictures and words over a period of a few minutes or in the case of The Atavist’s Mastermind, which we debuted recently, over a number of weeks, is so well-suited for this device.

We took content and tried to just add to it and move it onto the tablet and it didn’t work at first, but a lot of things don’t work at first. And then later they work better. And also other things that people have said died came back, vinyl, for example. I don’t think we’ve quite figured out what magazine making transforms into with these new devices. And what these new devices will be. We’re going to have a digital reader of some kind. Now, for some people it’s going to be their phone and with others it may be the new Amazon reader which our app is now available on that product.

I read somewhere that there are 40 million magazine subscribers. I don’t have to get all of them; I’d love to have all of them, if everyone downloaded the app, think of all of the trees that we’d save; it would be fabulous. However, I do think that I can get a good portion of those people. I think we can get people who are magazine readers and who are tired of subscribing to a magazine for $10 or $15 and getting a blow card from them. We bring real value. I want culturally-curated content; I want to read.

And that’s what was so revelatory for me when I rediscovered the app in the spring when John Loughlin, our CEO, reached out to me and said he might be looking for an editor to help curate this. After months and months of working in blogs, I appreciate getting content quick and readily because I want to read stories. I still think magazines, hands-down, deliver that better than any other medium.

The challenge of magazines these days is that we’re delivering them the same way that we did 50 years ago. There’s a guy with a truck and a newsstand (Laughs); it’s not an efficient way. This is a good way. I believe there will always be things that you want on paper, but I don’t think that means that we can’t have this experience digitally.

It is almost impossible to find a newsstand in New York that allows you to browse. At supermarkets and drug chains, they’ve moved those pockets and magazine racks to the back or the side of the store. Sometimes, with the weeklies, it’s hard to figure out if that’s the old cover or the new cover. What’s dying is the 50-plus-year-old newsstand delivery system, not the value of the words, the images, the content, or the editorial packaging that makes a magazine, a magazine. People still love magazines. But it’s like the opening of The Six Million Dollar Man: we can deliver them better and faster than we did before. Most people who try Texture are blown away by what they get. Our stats show that users come in for a magazine and are sampling content they never knew they would enjoy. They double and triple their magazine-reading time. We are addictive and habit- forming. And we are the ultimate de-clutterer. What’s not to love?

And I do think it’s a different type of story. If you talk to people, there is content on a website and there is content in a magazine; it’s very different skills that produce each. They’re all very important; one is not superior to the other.

The question is how do we make money and that’s one of the things about this app. It allows magazines to make money off of traditional structures in a digital way and because the advertising is included it can count towards someone’s rate base, and also by paying through that monthly fee, the magazines get a portion of that every month. So, there is a new revenue stream here. It’s very small today, but I don’t think that it’s going to stay that way.

Samir Husni: What’s the total number of magazines that are available on the app now?

Maggie Murphy: We’re closing in on 200 magazines and recently we added the Reader’s Digest team, along with The Atavist, so we’re covering from every spectrum. And we have all of the partners’ brands, so that’s all of the magazines from Time Inc., from Sports Illustrated to People to EW and of course Time magazine. We have Condé Nast and all of their brands, such as Bon Appétit, Vogue and The New Yorker. We have all of Hearst’s wonderful titles, like Marie Claire, Esquire, Town & Country and we have titles outside our partners. We have hundreds of magazines, literally thousands of articles and I’m really excited by what I get to read. It’s a small team, myself and two other editors, and each day we read as much as we can and really overlap interesting stories.

I was just reading Rolling Stone’s cover story on Bernie versus Hillary. There was the Chatelaine story about whether or not we’re drinking too much. (Laughs) And there was a beautiful piece in Time recently from Patti Davis about her mom, Nancy Reagan, and these are things that we can call out. It’s a great opportunity to curate amazing content.

Samir Husni: Describe the difference between what you did as editor of Parade, where you were assigning stories and creating content, to where you are now, curating content. How do you feel your job has changed?

Maggie Murphy: Today Texture isn’t creating content, but I don’t think that’s off the table. I believe that could be a long-term goal and I especially think as we look at how wonderful things like The Atavist’s Mastermind is doing, that’s a model that we’re intrigued by.

Fundamentally, when I said that I wanted to be a journalist, to me, that meant that I wanted to work in magazines and I am working in magazines. And I think I’m working in magazines at a time and with a platform that shows a different way to go forward. And potentially, in a way that can really become an incredibly engaging business for people who want to read researched, visually enticing, reported narratives.

And we see the quest and the desire to read stories of substance; stories of consequence. And stories that are really helpful. Brands with consumer reports do wonderfully in our app. Service stories do terrific. And we can not only give people Real Simple’s tips for declaring this week, but we can package together their content dating back until 2012 and we can do this for magazine editors themselves, where it’s difficult sometimes to go back and ask, didn’t we do this story a few years back? With the touch of their fingertips, they can search these brands. So, if you’re interested in planning an Italian vacation, through our search you can get stories from Afar and Condé Nast Traveler and many others.

I love magazine making and I would so like to continue in some creative outlet, but I had always envisioned that my next career would be a librarian. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Maggie Murphy: But I’m sitting here every day and all of these wonderful stories are coming in and I can ask people, have you read this story or that terrific story? It’s just very exciting every single day. It’s like Christmas. I open it up and say: oh my gosh, Esquire is dropping, this is so exciting. We get so thrilled when GQ is coming in.

And one of the other things that we’re able to do with our partners is early access, so for instance, on the Thursday before Vanity Fair dropped its amazing Jennifer Garner story, we saw an early version of that story and Condé Nast was so wonderful to give it to us early on Friday. So, we had that story simultaneously with the same time their website had it. Our subscribers got to read it with the pictures and in the way that the content makers had developed it. And of course, it was mutually engaging and I got to say that I had just read the story and it was amazing.

Samir Husni: Why do I have to pay money to access Texture when I can get the same content if I go to Vanity Fair?

Maggie Murphy: I think that’s one of the things that we’d like to encourage with magazine makers. Most content that appears in magazines is not on the website. They’re different formats. Most magazines aren’t putting the content that they are developing for their print brands online, some of it appears, some of it doesn’t, but if it’s behind a paywall, it’s there. I think that’s one of the issues that is still being navigated. I could see why a brand would want to put a hot story out there, but we’re offering a different way to give people access to that in a way that allows us to continue to do those stories.

If the entire business had it to do over again, would we follow the same path of just repurposing our content and putting it online? I think what we realized is that it doesn’t work as well as content that was made for digital. It’s a different format. A website and what you’re looking for online is very different than the print experience and what you’re aiming to learn when you sit down and read a magazine.

What we believe is for someone who is looking for that magazine experience, and people love magazines; what we’re saying is this is a way to get all of them at your fingertips, just like there is in a Netflix model or a satellite radio model and there’s a fee for that so that we can make sure that we can continue to pay for it and continue a revenue model.

That’s one of the things that we’d like to see. We’d like to see more and more access simultaneously and eventually the partners will have to kind of come to terms on how they want to distribute their content. But we think that this is a viable alternative to subscription and giving people something behind a paywall.

Recently, I went downstairs and got a free cup of coffee at the hotel. It hit the spot. It did the job. But it’s not like my venti Pike from Starbucks. Which I not only enjoy, I savor. It makes me feel satisfied and happy. I pay $4 a day for that experience. That’s valuable to me because it brings me joy. There is a lot of good content out there for free. But I want great content. That brings me joy. For our premium subscription, that’s roughly 50 cents a day, I am able to read a New Yorker story, a Popular Mechanics feature; introduce my daughter to Cricket or National Geographic, and still check out “Stars Like Us” and that’s a great value. Yes, I can do that on the web, but it’s not a singular storefront. Plus, once I am in the store, there’s something new to read or investigate, whether it’s a recipe or a travel story. And we’re doing more early access to content. Whether that was Jennifer Garner’s Vanity Fair cover story or a first look at EW’s David Bowie issue.

The truth is most magazines do not end up putting all of the brand’s content on the website. What works on a website, for the most part, is a different type of story, just as newspaper stories were different than magazine stories. I do believe there are readers who don’t feel strongly about the difference and will never pay for content again. Post-recession, it’s just not what they do. You can see that in the decline of the gossips. But I do believe there is a reader who wants a reading experience beyond listicles and bulleted pieces. There are many blogs I enjoy, but I don’t want every experience through a personal lens. I want to read that richly reported piece. I want the fact-checked recipe from Bon Appétit.

Digitally, brands like The Atavist are exploring magazine long-form—and that’s what makes our partnership with them so exciting. But we showcase stories on Texture that might not get showcased elsewhere. There was a wonderful essay from Self last month that we featured in our New & Noteworthy that might not have been seen outside the confines of the print product if you didn’t have a subscription to the magazine. I would say that Texture is a new way for brands that are beloved and have been part of the fabric of American life to thrive digitally, separate from their web and mobile-based experiences. I don’t know her, but Kate Lewis of Hearst said something that I think is spot on: “Print tells me what’s next. Digital tells me what’s now.” I think many, many readers still want to learn what’s next, and magazines (on paper or in Texture) still do that better than any other medium. Put another way: Think about filmed content. You can have it delivered on network, on cable, in pay-per-view, or via YouTube. And many other ways. The publishing industry has finally caught up to the television industry in providing many varied content experiences: on paper, on web, through mobile, social, vlog, blog, and in app via Texture. Among others being invented as we speak.

Samir Husni: If you and I are having this same conversation a year from now; what do you hope that you can tell me you have accomplished during that year?

Maggie Murphy: That’s a really good question. The biggest problem we face right now is just that people don’t know that we exist. We’re doing our very best to get the message out there. We’re working with our owners, who have been incredibly supportive by really investing in the brand, and really updating it. We’re working on a mobile adaptive so that we’re really able to deliver magazine content in a mobile-friendly manner for the phablet that is to come. And I think it’s just really giving magazine lovers choice, of saying here’s another way. There is paper; there is the website, and there is a magazine app that is a Spotify for magazines; a Netflix for magazines, for those people out there who want this experience, but want it in a more convenient, on-the-go way.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning and take on the day?

Maggie Murphy: I still get to discover great stories; that’s what I like about it. I was talking to friends one day and they asked me why I got into this business. I simply told them: I love magazines. I thought it would be cool to work on magazines.

And today I’m not working on simply one; I’m working on 200 of them. I want to see these magazines succeed. From the way that they are put into the app; the way pulling out a story delivers a message; to the push notifications. We’re championing great reading. And our readers are responding. The Texture reader is cultured, curious; they have high incomes and they really love this kind of content. I feel like I’m championing great content, which is what I always wanted to do. So, when you’re doing something that really speaks to your core, you feel it’s important. And I do. I feel that this is important.

I have had a tremendous career working at some of the best brands that gave ever been around. And I have many, many friends who are in their 20s and 30s who really love magazine making. And for me, I think this is a way forward. The technology will get better; the organization and what-belongs-where will get better and the support of the companies has just been fantastic. I think that there’s nowhere to go but up. I don’t believe that this is the death of something; I think it’s the beginning of something. And I think that’s where we need to not to be negative. As magazine editors, there are new ways to deliver our content. And that’s what we are: a new way. And it’s really a fun experience. Just this morning, I read Rolling Stone and Esquire; both before breakfast. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: On Spotify I listen to a complete song; Netflix, I watch a complete movie; are we changing the experience when you actually sell a story, rather than a complete magazine experience; instead, you are selling segments of that experience. Are you in the sampling business or the entire content business?

Maggie Murphy: I would flip that question first; one of the main ways people read many brands is cover to cover. They’ll go into the app, they love the magazines that are their favorites, and they read cover to cover and we see that in our data. However, by offering them singles, we’re potentially offering them the chance to sample something that they might not. And in fact, one of the more interesting aspects after the horrible Paris attacks; we collected stories together about how Islamic terrorism might have come to Paris. And there’s a piece from The New Yorker and a piece from Time about why did this happen; what’s going on. And there was a piece from Vogue about the wives and female jihadists. And a number of people said to me: I would have expected that piece from The New Yorker; I would have expected that piece from Time, but I didn’t know that was in Vogue, and it gave me a new appreciation of Vogue.

And that I believe is what we’re doing. There are people who love albums and love the entire experience. And there are people who love the entire magazine and want it cover to cover, but I listen to music sometimes one at a time. Give me a great Pop song, and then I might take two or three. I like to sample and then commit. I think you’re going to have both types of readers; you’re going to have every type of reader. There’s enough content and I would say that this is the multiplex and we’re offering trailers. Here’s a taste of this, you might like that. Being able to deliver that overtime builds discovery. We believe that we can build discovery with this model, while we’re still serving the person who wants to read their magazine cover to cover and have that unique experience.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Maggie Murphy: People believing that the only way to get great magazine content is a website; that’s not the case anymore. We’re here; we have a great product and it’s improving every single day and I just want more people to know about it.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 2 Comments »

The 30 Hottest Magazine Launches of the Past 30 Years…

March 7, 2016

The 30 Hottest Magazine Launches of the Last 30 Years to be published April 14. The book is published by the Magazine Innovation Center in partnership with min (media industry newsletter) and is sponsored by Fry Communications.

The last 30 years in the life of American magazines were, to say the least, the best and the worst of years. The era from 1985 to 2015 was described as the golden age of American magazines and also as the changing age of American magazines. Definitions changed, publishing companies changed, and what used to be described as magazines only, is now known as magazine media.

However, one thing did not change. New magazines, those bundles of pure reading joy that continue to arrive in the marketplace, were hot in 1985 and they were still just as hot in 2015.

A total of 23,318 new magazines arrived at the nation’s newsstands during those last 30 years from which 9,828 titles were born with the intention to publish at least four times a year, and if I may add, I have each and every one of those 23,318 titles.

In 2015 and from those 9,828 frequency titles, I started the task of identifying the 30 hottest titles of the last 30 years. It was no easy feat and I’m sure that the majority would agree that the distinguished titles chosen are well deserving of the honor; however, I also know that some will name other magazines that should reside on that list. But there were benchmarks that had to be met in order to be a part of the stellar lineup.

Here are some of the criteria I used when choosing those titles:

1. The magazine must have been continuously published since its inception
2. The magazine must have been in business since at least 2012
3. The magazine must have either broken new ground or entered a very competitive market and thrived in it
4. The magazine must have transferred from a magazine to a brand
5. The magazine must have extended its reach beyond the ink and paper and/or created other entities based on its DNA
6. The magazine crossed the borders of the United States and created international editions worldwide
7. The magazine today is a force to contend with in its specific category of publishing

Achieving five of the seven mentioned criteria assured the magazine a spot on the list of the hottest magazines of the last 30 years.

For me, someone who loves and encourages every new magazine equally, this was an extremely arduous task to accomplish. It’s hard to differentiate among your children (and all new magazines are like my children to me), but at the end of the day choices had to be made. But I assure you, I am as proud of the entire 9,828 titles that were born with frequency as I am of the 30 chosen.

From individual entrepreneurs who launched their titles with nothing but the passion in their hearts, to the large magazine media companies we all trust and love to bring us the best in magazine reading, the 30 titles chosen are but a small representation of a still-thriving, still-kicking magazine and magazine media industry. Let us all celebrate the entire industry as we honor these 30 titles.

And the celebration of those 30 magazines will take place in New York City at the min 30 event on April 14. To register for the event click here.

And now for the 30 hottest magazine launches of the last 30 years:

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | 5 Comments »

The New Barker Magazine: At Last Florida Dogs Have Their Own New Yorker – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Founder, Editor & Creative Director, Anna Cooke, The New Barker Magazine.

March 2, 2016

“I’m heartened every time we attend an event that’s a dog-related event. People of all ages come up to me and tell me that when they get their (print) copy of the magazine they read it cover to cover. I know there’s a need for digital and we’re working on improving that experience every single day. I have to go back to time, the time and effort it takes to continually evolve digitally so that we stay connected to the readers. I understand that because we’re a quarterly publication a lot of things happen between quarters and if you don’t stay in front of your audience they’re going to forget you and go somewhere else to get the information.” Anna Cooke

With every stylish cover, The New Barker proves that it’s not just another dog magazine. From founder, editor and creative director Anna Cooke’s own love for The New Yorker magazine, she pays homage to her paragon with beautiful and uncanny covers that imitate the veteran publication’s own creativity. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Anna is genuinely sincere when it comes to her love for The New Yorker and magazines in general.

In fact, her love for magazines and design is what led her down the path of creating one of her own for Florida dog-lovers. Her mission to stay true to good content and artful design has never wavered as the magazine celebrates 10 years in publishing.

I spoke with Anna recently about her love for magazines and her specific fondness for The New Yorker and we also chatted about her goals for The New Barker and the way that she and her husband have committed themselves to the mission of bringing Florida dog-lovers the best regional content that’s both compelling and entertaining. The covers of each issue bring a style and charm to the magazine that sets the tone for the entire experience very definitively. It’s a unique concept and a refreshing read, much like the lady producing the magazine, proving that entrepreneurship can certainly pay off with hard work and dedication.

We talked about Anna’s love for animals and the fact that she donates the artful covers to local shelters to be auctioned at their fundraisers at least twice a year. We also hit upon her desire to expand The New Barker to more states. It was a delightful and inspiring conversation that I know you’ll love reading. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Anna Cooke, Founder, Editor and Creative Director, The New Barker magazine.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the background of The New Barker: My husband and I have an advertising and design studio and we’ve been running it around 30 years or so. About 11 years ago we had a client who had a dog boutique and we developed an ad campaign and put a media plan together for her. The client ran it for a while and then said that she couldn’t afford it. One of the things that we selected for the media plan was lifestyle magazines, they had a great reach and demographic, but they reached across the demographics. It wasn’t a magazine specifically targeted to dogs, so we were getting demographics, but not as targeted as we wanted. So, we realized that maybe there was a need for a lifestyle magazine that was much more targeted to the lifestyle of dog owners.

On the biggest stumbling block she’s had to face: With a stumbling block, I keep going back to time; the lack of enough time to get everything done that we want to get done. We don’t have a lack of content or stories. We certainly don’t have a lack in advertisers and advertising potential, we always just run out of time in producing the next issue to go after those advertisers and to go after those stories. So, it’s time management.

On the thinking behind the creative design of the magazine and its resemblance to The New Yorker with its covers: Well, I’m a fan of The New Yorker and I’m a huge fan of magazines. I love to look at the design, the page layout, and the typesetting and rich content like is in The New Yorker. You pick up a magazine like The New Yorker and you’re not going to just thumb through it; you’re going to become involved with it and spend time with it. We did trademark the name, The New Barker; we do have a national trademark and we actually paid homage to The New Yorker and we included that in the paperwork for our trademark.

On whether she ever heard from The New Yorker: No, but about seven years ago I received a phone call from a woman in New York and she wanted to purchase a subscription, but she thought that it was The New Yorker’s version of a dog magazine in New York. (Laughs) And then when I pointed out to her that it was a Florida lifestyle magazine, which is OK because our stories will resonate with everyone, but at the time I wanted her to understand that it was based in Florida, and she looked at the masthead then and realized that it wasn’t The New Yorker.

On whether she believes there’s a need for print in this digital age: Yes, I’m heartened every time we attend an event that’s a dog-related event. People of all ages come up to me and tell me that when they get their copy of the magazine they read it cover to cover. I know there’s a need for digital and we’re working on improving that experience every single day.

On whether she has any time left over for her ad agency or she’s now a full-time magazine maker: I would say that 95% of my time is devoted to the magazine and then through time management we are able to work with clients that have stayed with us over the years. I’m not actively seeking new business for the ad agency side because what’s running the business is the advertising side of the magazine. Again, it’s a balance and a desire to want to stay connected to our clients with the ad agency business.

On whether she works with the artists who illustrate the covers or leaves the decisions to them when it comes to style and type of dog featured: We work with the artists; in the last few issues we have donated the cover as a live auction item to animal shelters in Florida for their fundraising events. What that does is give somebody an opportunity to bid on the cover. We select the artist and what I do is provide half a dozen, five or six different artists and styles, and they pick the style, then we do a photo shoot, and then the artist, in their own particular style, will paint the portrait for the person who had the highest bid for that particular cover.

On whether she has any plans to expand the magazine nationally: I would like to expand it. We have expansion plans, but not necessarily to make it a national publication, instead, taking it into another state and doing another publication for The New Barker, for example, Pennsylvania’s top dog. That kind of thing, because I believe the success of the magazine is its regionalism.

On what differentiates the magazine from other dog-specific publications: First of all, I think the cover is very unique. It stands out from other magazines. I think the cover immediately sets the tone, in terms of the tongue-in-cheek humor. You look at that and you smile. You have to pick it up and flip through it.

On anything she’d like to add about The New Barker: I think when people put magazines out they’re so beautiful and people don’t realize the extent of the work that goes on behind the scenes. It is the most fulfilling and all-consuming work that we have ever done. We’ve been in the ad business, as I said, for 30-something years and we’re accustomed to deadlines and the gut-wrenching, from start to finish, to get it done. It’s a difficult process. It’s like a Jackson Browne song where he travels the country with his band. And his roadies put the stage together; they’re the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. Then they have to do it all over again the next night and you just have to be constantly up and on-the-go. That’s the essence of what we do: constantly up and on-the-go.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the morning: I have to say the dogs do. (Laughs) The needs of our dogs are a priority. They get up and they have to go out; they have to drink water; they have to eat, and then I have my coffee and it’s off to work. I enjoy coming to work. I enjoy the prospect of what the new day has to offer.

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up one evening unexpectedly at her home: Cooking. It’s funny, in the throes of production, when we’re nearing the deadline and we’ve got to go to press, I suddenly find myself cooking. I’ll go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients for a recipe I haven’t tried. And it’s not something that I consciously do. I just realized when I looked back on those last couple of years that I was doing this; looking for another creative outlet that was completely different from print production.

On what keeps her up at night: The deadlines. We’ve been doing this for 10 years and I still worry about the deadlines. Are we going to make it? We’re so committed to our advertisers; you want to get the publication out there because the advertisers are counting on it.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Anna Cooke, Editor and Creative Director, The New Barker.

Samir Husni: Give me some background about The New Barker. It feels and looks like The New Yorker, but it’s all about dogs.

Anna Cooke: Correct. (Laughs) My husband and I have an advertising and design studio and we’ve been running it around 30 years or so. About 11 years ago we had a client who had a dog boutique and we developed an ad campaign and put a media plan together for her. The client ran it for a while and then said that she couldn’t afford it. One of the things that we selected for the media plan was lifestyle magazines, they had a great reach and demographic, but they reached across the demographics. It wasn’t a magazine specifically targeted to dogs, so we were getting demographics, but not as targeted as we wanted.

So, we realized that maybe there was a need for a lifestyle magazine that was much more targeted to the lifestyle of dog owners. And we did some research; we actually did some focus groups, invited professionals in the industry; we invited consumers, potential subscribers to the magazine and all things pointed to a need for that type of magazine. We felt we would get advertising support and we would have readership, so we started developing the first issue.

I went out and sold advertising myself with just a kind of a mom-and-pop media kit and I would receive checks and I wouldn’t deposit them. I would just post them on my bulletin board next to my desk. (Laughs) I thought that if the magazine didn’t come together, I could just tear up the checks or hand them back to people. I guess to be truthful I didn’t have a strong belief in myself and in what we were doing.

Then about two weeks before going to press, my husband and partner said, “I think it’s time to deposit those checks. We have enough money to pay for the printing and the mail, with a few bucks left over.”

The first issue came out in 2006 and the response was overwhelming. My husband came into my office and said this thing is bigger than we thought it would be. Then we headed into the production of the second issue and we just haven’t had time to look back since.

Samir Husni: As you approach your 10th anniversary, what has been the biggest stumbling block that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

Anna Cooke: With a stumbling block, I keep going back to time; the lack of enough time to get everything done that we want to get done. We don’t have a lack of content or stories. We certainly don’t have a lack in advertisers and advertising potential, we always just run out of time in producing the next issue to go after those advertisers and to go after those stories. So, it’s time management.

I’ve gotten to a point where we’re now able to, and actually this happened several years ago, we’re able to forecast stories for two, three or four issues down the road. As I said, we’ve never had a problem with content, but now it’s prioritizing them. OK, we’re working on this story; this story is immediate, we’ll put it in the upcoming issue; these stories we’ll use for the summer issue or that will be a great story for the winter issue.

Samir Husni: I have to ask this question. When I saw the magazine I had to take a double-look. Is this The New Yorker or is this The New Barker? As the creative person, what was the thinking behind creating “the art of dog” and looks like “the art of The New Yorker?”

Anna Cooke: (Laughs) Well, I’m a fan of The New Yorker and I’m a huge fan of magazines. I love to look at the design, the page layout, and the typesetting and rich content like is in The New Yorker. You pick up a magazine like The New Yorker and you’re not going to just thumb through it; you’re going to become involved with it and spend time with it.

And the idea of The New Barker, the name; it just came to me like one of those epiphanies. One evening a light bulb went off and with that came the idea that every cover would be a piece of art, an original work of art in support of local artists based on the Florida market. So, we’re supporting the art world as well as focusing on the art of dog and the stories of dogs.

We did trademark the name, The New Barker; we do have a national trademark and we actually paid homage to The New Yorker and we included that in the paperwork for our trademark.

Samir Husni: And did you ever hear from The New Yorker?

Anna Cooke: No, but about seven years ago I received a phone call from a woman in New York and she wanted to purchase a subscription, but she thought that it was The New Yorker’s version of a dog magazine in New York. (Laughs) And then when I pointed out to her that it was a Florida lifestyle magazine, which is OK because our stories will resonate with everyone, but at the time I wanted her to understand that it was based in Florida, and she looked at the masthead then and realized that it wasn’t The New Yorker.

I’ve had people who recognize, especially people who love The New Yorker, who recognize the humor.

Samir Husni: As you developed this magazine over the last 10 years, how do you think the marketplace has changed? You started publishing just slightly before the dawn of digital devices and Smartphones and iPads. How did the digital world impact your print magazine, and do you think you still need a print magazine to show the art of dog?

Anna Cooke: Yes, I’m heartened every time we attend an event that’s a dog-related event. People of all ages come up to me and tell me that when they get their (print) copy of the magazine they read it cover to cover. I know there’s a need for digital and we’re working on improving that experience every single day. I have to go back to time, the time and effort it takes to continually evolve digitally so that we stay connected to the readers. I understand that because we’re a quarterly publication a lot of things happen between quarters and if you don’t stay in front of your audience they’re going to forget you and go somewhere else to get the information.

When we first came up it was easier to stay connected to them. It was new, so people were looking forward to it. But 10 years later there’s so much information everywhere, all over these electronic devices; all over these applications and many of them are dog specific so people have so many more ways to stay connected. I believe in the power of print that connects passively with people, but I also understand the power of digital.

Samir Husni: I see from the magazine that you’re not only the editor, creative director and a photographer, but you also actually write quite a bit of the content. Do you have any time left to give to your other creative business, the ad agency, or are you now a full-time magazine maker?

Anna Cooke: I would say that 95% of my time is devoted to the magazine and then through time management we are able to work with clients that have stayed with us over the years. I’m not actively seeking new business for the ad agency side because what’s running the business is the advertising side of the magazine. Again, it’s a balance and a desire to want to stay connected to our clients with the ad agency business. So, we try and plan the production schedules and we treat The New Barker as a client, a client that takes up 95% of our time. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: I am fascinated with the covers, with that old stylish feel; each cover you can tear off and frame. And I noticed that all of the covers are based on real dogs; inside the magazine you put a picture of the real dog. Do you work with the artists on the ideas of what type of dog is going to be on this cover or that cover, or it is completely the artist’s own freedom and decision?

Anna Cooke: We work with the artists; in the last few issues we have donated the cover as a live auction item to animal shelters in Florida for their fundraising events. What that does is give somebody an opportunity to bid on the cover. We select the artist and what I do is provide half a dozen, five or six different artists and styles, and they pick the style, then we do a photo shoot, and then the artist, in their own particular style, will paint the portrait for the person who had the highest bid for that particular cover.

We’re actually working on a cover right now, someone bid $12,000, and the money was donated to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.

Samir Husni: So the artist will take those people’s dog and paint it for the cover?

Anna Cooke: Correct. And that happens probably once or twice a year, then the other times we’ll work with an artist and utilize something within that artist’s portfolio, something that just resonates with me personally. What I’m looking for is something that hasn’t been published. We have a treasure trove of artists’ portfolios. I get emails probably once or twice a week from Florida artists wanting to know how they can have their artwork on the cover of the magazine.

Samir Husni: Are Florida dogs so special that they deserve their own magazine or do you have plans to expand the magazine nationally?

Anna Cooke: I would like to expand it. We have expansion plans, but not necessarily to make it a national publication, instead, taking it into another state and doing another publication for The New Barker, for example, Pennsylvania’s top dog. That kind of thing, because I believe the success of the magazine is its regionalism. People enjoy flipping through it and seeing places that they have visited or are going to visit, or restaurants that they’re aware of, or their own dog in the magazine.

Samir Husni: If you were to meet someone on the street and they asked you what you did professionally and you said I’m the editor and creative director of The New Barker, how would you define the magazine to them? What differentiates it from the rest of the dog magazines, both locally and nationally?

Anna Cooke: First of all, I think the cover is very unique. It stands out from other magazines. I think the cover immediately sets the tone, in terms of the tongue-in-cheek humor. You look at that and you smile. You have to pick it up and flip through it.

In terms of the content, I feel we spend a lot of time researching the stories and developing the stories. Not as long as The New Yorker articles are, but I try, and I hope that we’re accomplishing this; to have a beginning, middle and an end to the story, where the reader is satisfied. They’ve been satiated after they’ve read the article. Our society today is such a grab-and-go; we get a news article or a piece and we read the headline and we read the subhead. We scan it for whatever reason; we don’t have time to really read it. But a magazine like The New Barker resonates to the reader to slow down and curl up with a good magazine.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add about The New Barker?

Anna Cooke: I think when people put magazines out they’re so beautiful and people don’t realize the extent of the work that goes on behind the scenes. It is the most fulfilling and all-consuming work that we have ever done. We’ve been in the ad business, as I said, for 30-something years and we’re accustomed to deadlines and the gut-wrenching, from start to finish, to get it done. It’s a difficult process.

It’s like a Jackson Browne song where he travels the country with his band. And his roadies put the stage together; they’re the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. Then they have to do it all over again the next night and you just have to be constantly up and on-the-go. That’s the essence of what we do: constantly up and on-the-go. We’re a lifestyle magazine about dogs, so we have to be happy and positive to make sure that the message we’re conveying is a happy and positive one.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Anna Cooke: I have to say the dogs do. (Laughs) The needs of our dogs are a priority. They get up and they have to go out; they have to drink water; they have to eat, and then I have my coffee and it’s off to work. I enjoy coming to work. I enjoy the prospect of what the new day has to offer. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done the night before, in terms of OK, here’s what I’m going to do tomorrow. You get up and you get in front of the computer and you look at your calendar and everything just changes. (Laughs again)

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening, what would I find you doing; reading a magazine, reading on your iPad, watching television, or what?

Anna Cooke: Cooking. It’s funny, in the throes of production, when we’re nearing the deadline and we’ve got to go to press, I suddenly find myself cooking. I’ll go to the grocery store, buy the ingredients for a recipe I haven’t tried. And it’s not something that I consciously do. I just realized when I looked back on those last couple of years that I was doing this; looking for another creative outlet that was completely different from print production. So, I’ll cook and serve up a nice meal for us, a glass of wine. While I’m waiting on dinner to get ready, I love the Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and of course, The New Yorker. I have subscriptions to all of those. I love their content and the way they present it.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Anna Cooke: The deadlines. We’ve been doing this for 10 years and I still worry about the deadlines. Are we going to make it? We’re so committed to our advertisers; you want to get the publication out there because the advertisers are counting on it. So, that keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

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Popular Mechanics: Redefining The Word “Mechanics” & Proving That America Is Once Again A Nation Of Crafters And Builders – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Cameron Connors, Publisher and Ryan D’Agostino, Editor-In-Chief, Popular Mechanics

February 26, 2016

“Magazines are a pretty unique medium. I’m not saying they’re better or worse than anything else that we do or any other way that people consume stories, but reading a magazine is an experience that it’s very hard to replicate. I think we saw that when magazines started rolling out tablet editions and that the reception was different than I think the industry thought it was going to be. Now the industry has adapted and made it better and it’s working, but it’s pretty hard to replicate the experience of sitting down with a magazine.” Ryan D’Agostino

“Do I think that I could ever sell it without a print component? Absolutely, but I don’t see that happening in any near future picture. I think the brand has such a great heritage and if anything we’ve double-downed on that heritage over the past couple of years, which is what’s giving us this resonance in the marketplace that I think will help us build and sustain momentum for the foreseeable future.” Cameron Connors

Popular Mechanics magazine began in 1902 and has witnessed many changes in the technological world over those 114 years, right along with its own transformation. Today the magazine retains that initial DNA, the foundation of a time when people valued building skills and loved making things themselves, but has a new voice and vibrancy that comes from a magazine team, headed by editor-in-chief, Ryan D’Agostino, and publisher, Cameron Connors, which honors the magazine’s heritage, but also believes in growth and fun at any age.

I spoke with both Ryan and Cameron recently and we talked about the changing roles of editors and publishers in today’s digital age and how infusing the longevity that Popular Mechanics enjoys, with an IV filled with fresh ideas and new voices was the goal and the fruition of both Ryan and Cameron’s past few years with the brand. The success of what they’ve done with the magazine as far as rejuvenated content and a rebirth of ad interest is apparent. Bringing back the magazine’s original thinking that people can do and make anything, with the right tools and knowledge, yet putting a zest and energy into that foundation, has been something that the two men have done favorably.

Both men bring a vibrancy and excitement to the brand that cannot be denied and is contagious when it comes to sharing that natural engagement they have with the audience. It was a fun and informative discussion that I know you will enjoy.

So, grab your latest Popular Mechanics issue and take some time to read the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Ryan and Cameron.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the changing role of a publisher in today’s magazine and magazine media marketplace (Cameron Connors): That’s a great question. I think having the digital experience is definitely one thing that’s setting today’s publishers apart and understanding how to fully represent a brand, particularly in today’s market where brands are becoming more and more fragmented with various access points across the social media platforms that we all use. I think the publisher’s role has increased to the point where you have to become a master of all of those platforms too, understanding at any given time how your brand is being represented on those platforms.

On whether he feels his role has changed now and is more involved than ever before (Cameron Connors): Absolutely. I mean, it is an always on role. We’re always thinking of new and inventive ways to extend the brand to attract a new advertiser. The days of old where you sit down and are able to ink a full schedule with just a lunch conversation are kind of over. There is so much, in terms of media, everything has changed.

On the definition of an editor today (Ryan D’Agostino): It’s also quite different than it was in years past, generations past, and even just a few years ago. An editor today is overseeing an entire brand. It’s weird to use that term, because what we typically think of ourselves as doing is telling stories and editing great stories, and that’s still a part of it. It’s a huge part of what any good editor-in-chief is doing now. That part has not changed.

On whether Ryan believes the name Popular Mechanics hinders people from knowing exactly what the magazine is about (Ryan D’Agostino): I don’t think it hinders at all. I love the name of the magazine; it feels like it could have been created in 1902, which it was, or it feels like it could have been launched in Brooklyn last week. I love the name Popular Mechanics; in fact, my first day on the job here two years ago, I assembled the staff, they didn’t know me, I just gathered them around and my first official act here was I told them that I wanted to outlaw the phrase “Pop Mech.” (Laughs) There was this habit of calling it Pop Mech and even in the magazine regularly and abundantly, on the folio was Pop Mech and Pop Mech was everywhere and I just thought I don’t know what that means.

On whether publisher, Cameron Connors asked himself why he was taking a job at Popular Mechanics when he first accepted the offer (Cameron Connors): Actually, it was quite the opposite. I was thrilled when I was given this opportunity because what I saw was a brand with so much unrealized potential. You asked Ryan if the name of the brand was a hindrance at all; I think we actually use the name to our advantage and fully change the conversation around the brand based precisely on what Ryan has been able to do: refreshing the voice, refreshing the environment, bringing on vibrant, new writers that have great and amazing ideas that give everybody, the media community, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, a whole new take on what Popular Mechanics means to people in this day and age.

On whether Cameron feels making the magazine more of a men’s general interest magazine would broaden the scope of its audience, rather than make it even more of a niche magazine (Cameron Connors): Yes I do. And that’s by design on the editorial side. And from an advertising standpoint, that very approach is helping us break into new categories of advertising that we, I don’t think based on my records, have ever seen before. You mentioned survival; we were at the outdoor retailer show demonstrating and we were fresh on the scene there and when people saw what we were doing they were instantly intrigued. And as a result we’ve seen great momentum in that particular category coming out of that show.

On the biggest challenge Cameron has had to face (Cameron Connors): The biggest challenge that I think we’ve faced since I got here was that the brand was not necessarily known for creative thinking from an advertising standpoint. The first thing I noticed was there was some glimpses of it here and there, but we needed a consistent approach, proactively flooding the market with great ideas, great partnerships, great new thinking and great new editorial franchises. So, that presented a challenge in the beginning when we were just starting to get into this transition, the whole rebuilding the plane in the air analogy.

On the biggest challenge Ryan as editor has had to face (Ryan D’Agostino): My biggest frustration has been this line of thinking out in the world about print. People will say, print, what, you still have a magazine? We’re really interested in digital, but print? And this is where I think Hearst has been really smart in promoting the idea that, if you look at any of our print magazines as the hub or the mother ship, even if it’s less of a revenue source, without it all of these other things don’t exist. That’s something that we believe strongly in here at Hearst.

On whether Ryan believes editors-in-chief would be better served with the title curators-in-chief (Ryan D’Agostino): No, I don’t think so. I believe curator is an overused term. I think everyone on my staff is very much a creator, every month and every day and every minute. In any medium they work, an artist has more tools than ever before that we can use. And maybe that’s a better Popular Mechanics analogy: more tools. You can create anything you want really with the stories that we tell.

On whether Cameron thinks as publisher he could ever sell the Popular Mechanics brand without a print component (Cameron Connors): Do I think that I could ever sell it without a print component? Absolutely, but I don’t see that happening in any near future picture. I think the brand has such a great heritage and if anything we’ve double-downed on that heritage over the past couple of years, which is what’s giving us this resonance in the marketplace that I think will help us build and sustain momentum for the foreseeable future.

On whether as editor Ryan can envision a day without a print edition for the magazine (Ryan D’Agostino): I don’t. From a business standpoint I don’t see why that would be a good idea; it’s not something that we talk about here.

On what Ryan thinks the role of print is in today’s digital age (Ryan D’Agostino): The digital age? Does that imply that it’s digital at the expense of everything else? I don’t think it does. Anytime that you get some sort of technological disruption, throughout history there’s the assumption that everything before it is going to fade away, but historically that hasn’t happened.

On why Ryan thinks it took the industry five or six years to realize that we could have both print and digital and audiences for both (Ryan D’Agostino): I think it’s because we were going after the tablet market; I don’t think anyone took their foot off the gas in creating print. On the print side it’s not like our budgets were slashed and put toward the tablet edition; I think it was just an exciting thing and I think that we’re an industry of creative minds, so when something like a tablet comes along, it stoked our minds into thinking how were we going to use it. We’re nothing without experimentation.

On what someone would find Ryan doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home, reading a magazine; reading his iPad; watching TV or playing with his children (Ryan D’Agostino): Some mix of all of those. You’ll find me helping my kids with their homework. You’ll find me showing them on my iPad things that we’re working on in the magazine, because I have two boys, they’re 6 and 9, so much of our content is fascinating to them. Maybe a drone story that I’m working on or an F16 story for the December issue; just all kinds of cools stuff and they become my little focus group sometimes when I come home from work and show them what I’m working on. And that’s fun.

On what someone would find Cameron doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home (Cameron Connors): You would probably catch me cooking. That’s my own personal version of DIY in the home, and maybe a bourbon too, depending on how the day went. I have two children of my own, 6 and 4, and something we like to do that was inspired by the magazine is giving our kids an understanding for the heritage of things.

On anything Ryan would like to add (Ryan D’Agostino): Of course, I’d want to emphasize some things on a slightly more detailed level of what we’re doing in the magazine, just some of the changes. Well, not so much changes. When I first got the job my first thought was what am I going to change? How am I going to make this my own? And that’s all well and good, I’ve done plenty of that, but then there’s also the second reaction which is, wait a minute, this thing has been around since 1902, I better not screw it up. What should I not touch? A lot of magazines have come and gone since 1902, so what has kept Popular Mechanics around?

On anything Cameron would like to add (Cameron Connors): Armed with all of the ammunition that Ryan just described, we’ve seen the conversation around the brand just completely change, particularly over the last six months. We find ourselves in a position now where we are driving conversations that we’ve never had before with advertisers and ad categories.

On what motivates Ryan to get out of bed in the morning (Ryan D’Agostino): With me usually behind on everything, I can’t wait to get to the office to catch up on everything so that I don’t have people asking me for things that I should have had done three days ago. (Laughs) But seriously, we have so much going on that I do get here very early in the morning. I get up very early and I come in very early. And I always have a couple of hours when I get here to catch up on stuff when it’s kind of quiet and I can put my music on loud if I want to and it’s that time when I, before the exciting onslaught of every day begins, can look at what we’re doing for the next few months or the next year or even just the next issue, and remind myself of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

On what motivates Cameron to get out of bed in the morning (Cameron Connors): Truly, it’s my colleagues. I think we’ve built an incredible team here at Popular Mechanics and across the men’s group. And I honestly can’t wait to get in every day to work with Ryan and his team, our marketing team, my management, to continue to further the mission of this brand.

On what keeps Ryan up at night (Ryan D’Agostino): For me it’s that there might be something that happened on the planet that we didn’t know about. (Laughs) We try to cover everything and I guess I should include outer space too because that’s part of our purview. We want to engage the audience and make them want to sit down and spend some time with us every month and that’s going to be by giving access and insight and having something to say about everything that’s happening around us.

On what keeps Cameron up at night (Cameron Connors): The only time I find myself up at night is if I feel like a wasted a single minute of the day. Everything from professional to personal is precious and you have to maximize it.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Ryan D’Agostino, Editor-In-Chief and Cameron Connors, Publisher, Popular Mechanics magazine.

Samir Husni: Cameron, you’ve worked on just the digital side of the brand and now you’re back working with both print and digital. You’re in charge of all of the revenue for Popular Mechanics; how would you describe the changing role of a publisher in today’s magazine and magazine media marketplace?

Cameron Connors: That’s a great question. I think having the digital experience is definitely one thing that’s setting today’s publishers apart and understanding how to fully represent a brand, particularly in today’s market where brands are becoming more and more fragmented with various access points across the social media platforms that we all use. I think the publisher’s role has increased to the point where you have to become a master of all of those platforms too, understanding at any given time how your brand is being represented on those platforms.

And on top of that, you have to be able to translate all of that to an advertiser and help them to understand the value of those touchpoints for your brand and for them across those platforms. So, it’s become a bigger job.

Samir Husni: Is it much easier now than your previous role or is it more involved, as though you have to be on it 24/7? Hearst has the tagline: from months to moments. Do you feel your job has changed from days to moments?

Cameron Connors: Absolutely. I mean, it is an always on role. We’re always thinking of new and inventive ways to extend the brand to attract a new advertiser. The days of old where you sit down and are able to ink a full schedule with just a lunch conversation are kind of over. There is so much, in terms of media, everything has changed. You have to be always on, whether you’re talking print, digital, social content, just you name it. There is so much in the way of disruption that you have to keep tabs on it all of the time.

Samir Husni: Ryan, to borrow a title from one of your departments that you edit over at Esquire, “The Meaning of Life;” what’s the meaning of an editor today?

Ryan D’Agostino: It’s also quite different than it was in years past, generations past, and even just a few years ago. An editor today is overseeing an entire brand. It’s weird to use that term, because what we typically think of ourselves as doing is telling stories and editing great stories, and that’s still a part of it. It’s a huge part of what any good editor-in-chief is doing now. That part has not changed.

What has changed, and I’ll just speak for myself as an editor, is being attached at the hip with Cameron, speaking to him as many times during the day and going on as many trips with him during the year as I can to get the message out there and help however I can to do what we’re doing.

It’s looking at our Instagram feeds and posting to it regularly, which I do because I live a great many parts of the Popular Mechanics life myself; I’m in an old house with an old barn that I’m trying to restore. I’m about an hour north of New York City and I drive my car and I own an old pick-up truck that I try to keep running. I have little kids and I’m teaching them how to do woodworking, and so I’ve become a part of our social media strategy simply because I’m having these experiences. I work closely with our digital team every day to help think about what they’re doing, tell them about what we’re doing and try to brainstorm together about how to translate all of it where it makes sense.

So, the whole parts of being an editor, which are assembling a talented group of people to work with, to think about what stories we’re going to tell from month to month; that’s all still there. And to make the magazine entertaining and fun to read; lively and funny when it needs to be; insightful with every page and that it has beautiful photography. Writing a great headline; all of that hasn’t changed, there’s just more to it than that today.

Cameron Connors, Olivia Munn, Jason Segel, Ryan D’Agostino, photo by Eric Heimbold.

Samir Husni: Both of you have worked with magazines that cover a lot of celebrities, whether it was at Esquire or at Paper. Even with a magazine like Popular Mechanics, when people hear that you just came back from the SciTech Oscars and you have pictures on the Red Carpet with Olivia Munn and Jason Segel; Ryan, what do you feel when you tell people you are the editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, as opposed to saying that you’re an editor at Esquire? Do you feel like people have a throwback or does the name of the magazine hinder at all in today’s marketplace in any way or people know immediately what Popular Mechanics is today?

Ryan D’Agostino: I don’t think it hinders at all. I love the name of the magazine; it feels like it could have been created in 1902, which it was, or it feels like it could have been launched in Brooklyn last week.

I love the name Popular Mechanics; in fact, my first day on the job here two years ago, I assembled the staff, they didn’t know me, I just gathered them around and my first official act here was I told them that I wanted to outlaw the phrase “Pop Mech.” (Laughs) There was this habit of calling it Pop Mech and even in the magazine regularly and abundantly, on the folio was Pop Mech and Pop Mech was everywhere and I just thought I don’t know what that means. It’s an ugly-sounding noise and it just eviscerates our name and we should be reminding people what we’re about at every turn.

What we’re about, and the way that we’ve defined Mechanics for 2016 and beyond are the Mechanics of life; the Mechanics of your every day. And how everything around you works, whether that’s the new SpaceX‎ rocket that you’re reading about in the paper or the airplane you’re flying in or the assisted-driver car that you’re driving or the cocktail you’re drinking or the movie you’re watching. So, we define Mechanics very broadly.

Sure, when I tell people I was at Esquire and now I’m at Popular Mechanics; they’ll ask Popular Mechanics? Depending on their level of magazine interest and literacy they might think it’s about fixing cars or they might have a deeper understanding of what it really is, but I explain like this: we tell the story of the world around us and how it works.

And that’s something that the magazine has done for over 100 years, but it’s something that we’re redefining today. So, when we put Olivia Munn on the cover of the magazine last year and when we entered the world of the Academy Awards as a sponsor of the Scientific & Technical Oscars; who would have thought in 1902 or anytime in our history that editor and the publisher of Popular Mechanics would be on the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards event with a couple of movie stars? But somehow it felt right. It didn’t feel out-of-place and my hope is that every month in the magazine it won’t feel strange at all to be reading about Olivia Munn, military technology, how to build a deck, how to make a drink; all of those things between the same covers every month and under the same name, Popular Mechanics, so they’ll all make sense the way we’re defining it.

Samir Husni: And Cameron, did you have a similar experience? When you accepted the job, did you ask yourself what am I doing? Why am I taking this job at Popular Mechanics?

Cameron Connors: Actually, it was quite the opposite. I was thrilled when I was given this opportunity because what I saw was a brand with so much unrealized potential. You asked Ryan if the name of the brand was a hindrance at all; I think we actually use the name to our advantage and fully change the conversation around the brand based precisely on what Ryan has been able to do: refreshing the voice, refreshing the environment, bringing on vibrant, new writers that have great and amazing ideas that give everybody, the media community, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, a whole new take on what Popular Mechanics means to people in this day and age. So, I found it very exciting and as I said, it’s totally changed the conversation around the brand across the board.

Ryan D’Agostino: It takes some work to tell people exactly what you’re asking about and what we’re talking about. And I think what you’re getting at is, OK, Esquire, where I came from, has a defined identity; it’s fairly rooted in popular culture and people understand that it’s a men’s magazine. Popular Mechanics over the years has been a niche publication for people with specific interests. We’re trying to bring it out of the niche market and make it a magazine for everybody, because I really think that the things that the magazine is about have become popular now. Everybody is making something and building things with their hands and are interested in heritage manufacturing in the United States and how things work. Every parent wants their kids to learn about how things work and engineering, and so it’s very much entered the mainstream.

But that’s why Cameron and I are so constantly out there talking to whoever will listen and telling them what we’re doing so they can understand and they won’t continue to hear the name Popular Mechanics and think of it as a great, classic American magazine, which it is, but they don’t really understand the excitement that we’re feeling about it right now.

Samir Husni: Cameron, do you feel making Popular Mechanics more of a men’s general interest magazine will broaden the magazine’s audience? For example, last month the cover was survival, but there are three or four special interest magazines that have nothing in them but survival. The cover before, let’s say, was about building a home and there are many DIY magazines and home building magazines out there. So, do you feel that going against the trend widens the horizon of the magazine, rather than making it even more specialized?

Cameron Connors: Yes I do. And that’s by design on the editorial side. And from an advertising standpoint, that very approach is helping us break into new categories of advertising that we, I don’t think based on my records, have ever seen before. You mentioned survival; we were at the outdoor retailer show demonstrating and we were fresh on the scene there and when people saw what we were doing they were instantly intrigued. And as a result we’ve seen great momentum in that particular category coming out of that show.

Another proud moment for us was in the entertainment space, which really hasn’t been a core, endemic category for us, was last year when we partnered with Fox on the launch of “The Martian.” We did a collector’s cover that was all Martian-branded and then Ryan had the good fortune of interviewing Ridley Scott, so it all tied together very nicely. We did a Martian week on the website during the launch and it also helped that “The Martian” was a huge hit, but it was also one of those moments for us as a brand that was so smooth, none of it was forced, it all made perfect sense.

To go back to your original question, what all of this is doing is helping us branch out into new categories of advertising, which is exciting for me and it’s exciting for the entire staff to see as we chart new territory.

Samir Husni: Cameron, before someone reading this interview thinks that both of your journeys during the last few years has all been smooth sailing; what has been the biggest challenge that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

Cameron Connors: The biggest challenge that I think we’ve faced since I got here was that the brand was not necessarily known for creative thinking from an advertising standpoint. The first thing I noticed was there was some glimpses of it here and there, but we needed a consistent approach, proactively flooding the market with great ideas, great partnerships, great new thinking and great new editorial franchises. So, that presented a challenge in the beginning when we were just starting to get into this transition, the whole rebuilding the plane in the air analogy.

We were able to overcome that by simply not letting our foot off the gas and getting out there proactively with great ideas like what we did with “The Martian.” That’s been the biggest challenge, but also the biggest win for me since I’ve been here.

Samir Husni: And Ryan, from the editorial side, what has been your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

Ryan D’Agostino: My biggest frustration has been this line of thinking out in the world about print. People will say, print, what, you still have a magazine? We’re really interested in digital, but print? And this is where I think Hearst has been really smart in promoting the idea that, if you look at any of our print magazines as the hub or the mother ship, even if it’s less of a revenue source, without it all of these other things don’t exist. That’s something that we believe strongly in here at Hearst.

So, without those stories being written by people and being reported by people and being photographed by people and being designed by people; without Popular Mechanics magazine; what is popularmechanics.com; is there an Instagram feed or any of the other things that extend from the brand? It’s just a really smart way to look at things. We can be interested in and worried about taking advantage of all of these things and concerned that we need to be doing that; we can look at every single platform and use them all to tell stories and bring in revenue and draw in readers and participants in Popular Mechanics or whichever brand it is, but to not freak out and say that the world is over and we need to build a new one.

Hearst right now is marked by very rational thinking in this way and it makes our job much easier. When you think about it we need all of these things. When we report a story, I love trying to figure out how many different ways we can tell it. What’s the Twitter version of it and what’s the 5,000 word version of it? And everything in between. And if not every platform applies to every story, fine. Let’s think that way and communicate that, rather than freaking out and saying that we can’t do what we do anymore and we have to reinvent it. This is actually an incredibly exciting time because there’s just more Popular Mechanics out there.

I think about the editors from 1902, or the 1920s or the 1930s; they would have loved to have had a website and a Twitter feed and a Facebook page and Instagram and all of those things, because you can never fit what you want to fit in the magazine. And all of these new storytelling devices we have now; they would have been so jealous, so I just try to make sure we’re taking advantage of all of those things.

Samir Husni: Do you feel that you’re more of a curator now than a creator? Should we start calling editors curators-in-chief?

Ryan D’Agostino: No, I don’t think so. I believe curator is an overused term. I think everyone on my staff is very much a creator, every month and every day and every minute. In any medium they work, an artist has more tools than ever before that we can use. And maybe that’s a better Popular Mechanics analogy: more tools. You can create anything you want really with the stories that we tell.

I don’t think we’re just arranging information and trying to figure out how to pump it out, because don’t forget, without the reporting and the ideas; I mean, that’s what I tell my editors all of the time that I rely on them for the most. It’s not can they edit a good story or write a good headline, that’s important and goes without saying, but it’s ideas. We have nothing without ideas. And that goes for every platform, every medium, every website director, editor at this company. You have to have ideas about how to do things differently, in an original way and that’s what’s going to get people excited out there in the world. So, we are relentless creators.

Samir Husni: Cameron, as you are working with a team of creators, do you think that you could ever sell the brand of Popular Mechanics without a print component?

Cameron Connors: Do I think that I could ever sell it without a print component? Absolutely, but I don’t see that happening in any near future picture. I think the brand has such a great heritage and if anything we’ve double-downed on that heritage over the past couple of years, which is what’s giving us this resonance in the marketplace that I think will help us build and sustain momentum for the foreseeable future.

Samir Husni: And Ryan, can you envision Popular Mechanics without a print edition?

Ryan D’Agostino: I don’t. From a business standpoint I don’t see why that would be a good idea; it’s not something that we talk about here.

Samir Husni: Ryan, in today’s marketplace what’s the role of print in this digital age?

Ryan D’Agostino: The digital age? Does that imply that it’s digital at the expense of everything else? I don’t think it does. Anytime that you get some sort of technological disruption, throughout history there’s the assumption that everything before it is going to fade away, but historically that hasn’t happened.

Magazines are a pretty unique medium. I’m not saying they’re better or worse than anything else that we do or any other way that people consume stories, but reading a magazine is an experience that it’s very hard to replicate. I think we saw that when magazines started rolling out tablet editions and that the reception was different than I think the industry thought it was going to be. Now the industry has adapted and made it better and it’s working, but it’s pretty hard to replicate the experience of sitting down with a magazine.

The way I look at is the role of print hasn’t changed because the consuming public out there is showing that they don’t ‘not’ want to read magazines, there are times in their lives when they want to do it. I’m just excited that the digital age, if that’s what we’re living in because there’s digital technology now and digital ways of communicating, that the digital age is an opportunity, but I don’t think we should panic and look at it as one opportunity at the expense of another.

Samir Husni: Why did it take the industry five or six years to discover that it doesn’t have to be print or digital, it can be both? Rather than thinking digital was replacing print; why didn’t we see that they were two different experiences and that we could have both?

Ryan D’Agostino: I think it’s because we were going after the tablet market; I don’t think anyone took their foot off the gas in creating print. On the print side it’s not like our budgets were slashed and put toward the tablet edition; I think it was just an exciting thing and I think that we’re an industry of creative minds, so when something like a tablet comes along, it stoked our minds into thinking how were we going to use it. We’re nothing without experimentation.

And that’s why magazines and magazine brands remain so lively. Snapchat; how are we going to use that? Who knows how it’s going to work, but there are amazing and exciting things being done there. I don’t think there should be a lot of regret about going headfirst into tablets and trying to make that work because it seemed like a natural thing. And now we’re adapting.

Cameron Connors: I would also add that I think when digital came along and disrupted everybody’s lives, it gave a lot of different forms of media a wake-up call to sort of spawn that period of experimentation. During that process things became more fragmented, social was on the rise, mobile took affect; a lot of these things began to add up and everyone thought everything else was falling apart, which was absolutely not the case. When it came down to it this was still a brand. Whether it was a magazine or a website, we weren’t just a thing. The brand meant something to people.

And that’s our point when we’re out talking about the brand and making sure we drive home why it’s valuable to people and people buy it.

Samir Husni: To move into some questions about both of you personally; Ryan, if I showed up unexpectedly at your house one evening, what would I find you doing? Reading a magazine with a glass of wine; reading your iPad, watching TV, or playing with your children?

Ryan D’Agostino: Some mix of all of those. You’ll find me helping my kids with their homework. You’ll find me showing them on my iPad things that we’re working on in the magazine, because I have two boys, they’re 6 and 9, so much of our content is fascinating to them. Maybe a drone story that I’m working on or an F16 story for the December issue; just all kinds of cools stuff and they become my little focus group sometimes when I come home from work and show them what I’m working on. And that’s fun.

In terms of media consumption, on any given night it’s probably not wine, it’s bourbon. We subscribe to a lot of magazines at the house, and there are a couple of hours at night where I can either read a book, which takes me about four months to actually read sometimes because I’m just exhausted and I’ll read five pages and I’m falling asleep, but I try, or I can read a magazine. My wife and I have a show that we watch and streaming either Netflix or watching other movies. I’m going to the Oscars this weekend, so I’m trying to catch up on the Oscar-nominated movies. I might also be in the barn; it’s pretty typical.

Samir Husni: And Cameron, what would you be doing?

Cameron Connors: You would probably catch me cooking. That’s my own personal version of DIY in the home, and maybe a bourbon too, depending on how the day went. I have two children of my own, 6 and 4, and something we like to do that was inspired by the magazine is giving our kids an understanding for the heritage of things. Most recently we bought a throwback record player and started a record collection, so you might find me showing them a little about that, which has been a lot of fun.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else either of you would like to add?

Ryan D’Agostino: Of course, I’d want to emphasize some things on a slightly more detailed level of what we’re doing in the magazine, just some of the changes. Well, not so much changes. When I first got the job my first thought was what am I going to change? How am I going to make this my own?

And that’s all well and good, I’ve done plenty of that, but then there’s also the second reaction which is, wait a minute, this thing has been around since 1902, I better not screw it up. What should I not touch? A lot of magazines have come and gone since 1902, so what has kept Popular Mechanics around?

Then you start looking at what that thread of longevity is, if there is one over the last 114 years, and what I found in reading all of those back issues up until today, there is this sense of wonder about the world and curiosity, and those are the qualities of Popular Mechanics that have marked the reader since day one. It was the magazine that was going to help them understand stuff. The original tagline was written so that you could understand it, which I like the spirit of that and I get it, and that’s what people want. They want complex things presented in a way that they can understand and relate to and can have fun talking about.

So, we’ve done things such as instead of hiring only science writers or technological writers, working with writers like Joshua Ferris, the acclaimed novelist; Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights” who is writing about motorcycles for us; Gary Dell’Abate, who you may know better as “Baba Booey” from Howard Stern. I met him at a party and it turns out that he’s a gadget freak who is really into technology and is very knowledgeable about it and will be writing about technology for us.

So, what you end up with is a magazine that’s about the same things that it’s always been about, but with a broadened definition of that, and writing that is truly engaging and fun. I’m trying to make this a magazine for writers because I think that will attract a bigger audience and continue this momentum that we have now. We’ve gotten a couple of national magazine award nominations, which is a testament to my staff and the creativity of their ideas. We’re having so much fun here right now; it feels like a startup, but with 100 years of history.

Samir Husni: And Cameron, would you like to add anything?

Cameron Connors: Armed with all of the ammunition that Ryan just described, we’ve seen the conversation around the brand just completely change, particularly over the last six months. We find ourselves in a position now where we are driving conversations that we’ve never had before with advertisers and ad categories. To see us in a spot where we can now begin driving, not only revenue for our own brand, but across the Hearst men’s group and across the Hearst portfolio, is incredibly exciting. I think the sky is truly the limit.

Samir Husni: Ryan, what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Ryan D’Agostino: With me usually behind on everything, I can’t wait to get to the office to catch up on everything so that I don’t have people asking me for things that I should have had done three days ago. (Laughs)

But seriously, we have so much going on that I do get here very early in the morning. I get up very early and I come in very early. And I always have a couple of hours when I get here to catch up on stuff when it’s kind of quiet and I can put my music on loud if I want to and it’s that time when I, before the exciting onslaught of every day begins, can look at what we’re doing for the next few months or the next year or even just the next issue, and remind myself of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. I look through back issues; I look at other magazines around us and I get ideas from my editors that they send me every two weeks. And I try to think of ways to constantly reinvent what we’re doing. I took my whole staff to see “Spotlight” the other week; it was like 12:30 in the afternoon. And only one of them had seen it. I just thought, the movie is about hardworking journalists who are trying to do something important to them and that’s something we can all relate to.

The simple answer to your question is to keep doing what I was doing yesterday.

Samir Husni: And Cameron, what motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Cameron Connors: Truly, it’s my colleagues. I think we’ve built an incredible team here at Popular Mechanics and across the men’s group. And I honestly can’t wait to get in every day to work with Ryan and his team, our marketing team, my management, to continue to further the mission of this brand. So, it’s all that and then checking my numbers and sales, of course. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Ryan D’Agostino: For me it’s that there might be something that happened on the planet that we didn’t know about. (Laughs) We try to cover everything and I guess I should include outer space too because that’s part of our purview. We want to engage the audience and make them want to sit down and spend some time with us every month and that’s going to be by giving access and insight and having something to say about everything that’s happening around us.

And when we choose to define the magazine the way that we have, which is basically there is nothing that we have to cover and there’s nothing that we can’t cover. And that’s how I look at it. When you define it that way, it’s wonderful and totally daunting because we might miss something. That’s the challenge.

And what it means to be a man now is different and men are re-embracing skills that their grandfathers had that may be slipping away with each generation, knowing how to fix stuff and build stuff. I think there was a time when guys didn’t do that for a few years and I think we all look to our dads and our grandfathers. I’m 40, so I look to my dad and my grandfathers and there’s stuff that they can do with their eyes closed that I don’t know how to do. Fixing the lamp in the kitchen, changing the oil in the car; I can change the oil, but a lot of guys can’t and they might not want to admit it or it’s a little emasculating and I think that’s why we’re seeing this return to being a sort of Renaissance person, someone who knows a little about everything and a lot about some things and is highly skilled and curious and interesting to talk to. And I don’t think that person is a lot different than someone reading Popular Mechanics in 1908 or today.

Samir Husni: And Cameron, what keeps you up at night?

Cameron Connors: The only time I find myself up at night is if I feel like I wasted a single minute of the day. Everything from professional to personal is precious and you have to maximize it. If I feel like I didn’t see something coming or if someone has an issue with an ad deal, those are the things that keep me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you both.

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Gulf News Publishing: One Of The United Arab Emirate’s Largest Media Groups Brings Great Magazines To The Arab World Through Licensing & Innovation – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With James Hewes, Publishing Director, GN Publishing, UAE

February 22, 2016

“We were very clear if we were going to go out and do a large digital business, create a large events business, which we are in the process of doing, we needed to have a very stable and secure print base. In this market, print is still very strong. You can still make good money from print magazines and in some sectors it’s also growing, like the luxury category. So it is entirely feasible to have a very successful and sustainable business here and really if you’re going to do that, it gives you as a publisher some comfort as you make those investments in other media.” James Hewes

From Dubai with love…

Reporting from the FIPP Middle East & Africa conference in Dubai Feb. 10 and 11.

Gulf News Publishing produces a number of multilingual tailor-made publications for a host of national and multi-national organizations in the UAE. From concept to distribution, from newsletters to coffee-table books, the company offers a full spectrum of publishing services in English, Arabic and French.

James Hewes is publishing director for GN Publishing and is responsible for the group’s portfolio of consumer magazines, newspaper supplements and contract publishing. He started with the company in 2013 after 12 years at BBC Worldwide as Head of International Development for the magazines business and latterly as Publishing Director for the brands retained by the BBC following the sale of BBC Magazines.

James’ experience in magazines is undeniable and his love for the genre unquestionable. I spoke with him recently while we both attended the FIPP Middle East and Africa conference held in Dubai. James’ take on the print magazine business is enhanced by his strong belief in partnerships and knowing your audience as personally as possible. He is a man passionate about moving his company forward and keeping that connection with consumers.

We talked about his division’s most recent acquisition of the licensing of Citizen K, the eminent French fashion magazine, and we talked about his hopes for the future, both digitally and the ink on paper horizon. It was an exhilarating and informative discussion that I know you’re going to enjoy.

So, without further ado, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with James Hewes, Publishing Director, GN Publishing, UAE.

But first, the sound-bites:

On Gulf News and Gulf News Group and his beginnings with the company: Gulf News and the Gulf News group has been a leading national newspaper in the Middle East for many years now and its current form started in 1985, so it’s now 31 years old. It’s the leading English-language newspaper in the Middle East. It does 105,000 copies per day. And it now has a very successful website as well. And at some point in its development the company decided that it needed to diversify its offering, so as well as all of the natural things, such as distribution and commercial printing, it diversified into areas like radio and broadcasting and magazine publishing.

On why he thinks it’s important to have a good print product in this digital age: I think you have to be very pragmatic as a publisher and as an individual and a company. Very few companies have the appetite to make large investments into something like digital without having a solid base of profit behind them in which to fall back. So, we were very clear if we were going to go out and do a large digital business, create a large events business, which we are in the process of doing, we needed to have a very stable and secure print base. In this market, print is still very strong. You can still make good money from print magazines and in some sectors it’s also growing, like the luxury category.

On whether he thinks the brand extensions, such as events, digital and mobile, could exist without the core print product: I think we’ll find out. I think we’re going to start doing some products now that are not based in print form, primarily starting in digital. So we’ll be able to get a sense of whether or not it’s possible to have a sustainable brand without a print anchor.

On the fact that 95% of the Middle Eastern audience is still Arabic-speaking, yet most of the magazines are published in English: I think it’s a fascinating case study. A large part of that in days gone by would have been that there was an extreme lack of transparency in the media industry here. And therefore you could publish magazines in English to relatively small audiences and make decent money, let’s be honest. I believe with the digital world that’s all going to change. Digital advertising not only needs transparency, it almost can’t operate without transparency.

On the biggest challenge he’s had to face: The biggest challenge that you have in any business now is culture; changing the company’s culture. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been 100% successful in changing Gulf News’ culture, that’s not my job and that’s not what I do. But I’d like to think that within our business unit, the publishing business unit, we’ve tried to embrace a culture that allows people to innovate and to take risks. I’m a great believer in giving people responsibility and in return they get accountability. You can take a project and run with it; you’re accountable for its results, but it’s yours. You can do what you like.

On whether he feels the recent new “happiness” ministry that was established in the United Arab Emirates will become a trend and spread around the globe: Hopefully. I think it’s a very bold visionary move, as you’d expect from the government of Dubai. His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed, is very good at making those bold and visionary moves and it may pay off. I’m fully expecting that that’s going to be something that is copied elsewhere in the world when people see the effects of it.

On how he thinks print can be fixed: In terms of print and luxury, I think the initial thing there is to find the right partner. We’re very lucky in that the luxury magazine that we’re launching next month is OK. We have a great partner who has really helped us to get access to the luxury market. You’ve got to recognize in business what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. If you know that there’s a strategic opportunity somewhere and you don’t have the skills or the knowledge, you have to go out and get them by whatever means you can, in some cases that means hiring new people, which we’ve done in this case.

On why he pursued the licensing of Citizen K magazine: We were impressed with the vision and we were impressed with the founder. The man who founded Citizen K, Kappauf, is a well-known figure in the fashion industry. He brings a credibility of himself to that brand and therefore to the industry, and so in extension he also brings that to us. It absolutely has to do with who you’re working with. We always used to find this on the reverse; I was very often on the other side of the coin when I was licensing around the world.

On what motivates him to get out of bed in the morning: Opportunities for our brands to connect with consumers. And I love going to our events because that’s a chance to see sometimes our advertisers and sometimes our consumers in the flesh and to hear more about them and learn more about their brand experiences and to know that our brand has touched their lives in some way. So that’s a really powerful and uplifting moment. When I worked on “Good Food” in the U.K., I used to love going to the “Good Food” show in Birmingham and sell subscriptions; I’d sometimes stand at the desk and sell subscriptions for the day, and it was a great way to meet your customers.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: Probably a combination of all of those. I still read magazines and I’m a passionate reader. The genre of magazines really appeals to me. For example, I read “Motor Sport Magazine” from the U.K. I’m an absolute addict of that brand; it’s a fantastic brand and one that we’re hoping to bring here at some point.

On what keeps him up at night: Not moving fast enough. I guess it’s the same in any company; you always sit there and look at your competitors and think how much faster they’re moving than you are.

And now for the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with James Hewes, Publishing Director, GN Publishing, UAE.

Samir Husni: Tell me about Gulf News and the Gulf News Group and your beginnings with the company.

James Hewes: Gulf News and the Gulf News group has been a leading national newspaper in the Middle East for many years now and its current form started in 1985, so it’s now 31 years old. It’s the leading English-language newspaper in the Middle East. It does 105,000 copies per day. And it now has a very successful website as well.

And at some point in its development the company decided that it needed to diversify its offering, so as well as all of the natural things, such as distribution and commercial printing, it diversified into areas like radio and broadcasting and magazine publishing.

So when I came into this company three years ago, I took over what was then GN Magazines, a reasonably small magazine business with five titles, quite commercially successful, good turnover, average margins, not great margins, but the company was ready to develop that business into something suitable in the multiplatform world.

One of the first things we did was look at consolidating all of our publishing activity, apart from the newspaper, into a single place and create what is now GN Publishing. And GN Publishing is the publishing unit of Gulf News and does everything from traditional consumer magazines to business magazines to content marketing and contract publishing and newspaper supplements.

Samir Husni: I think we can agree that we live in a digital age, yet you have mentioned before that part of your future plans is to fix print. Why do you think it’s important to have a good print product in this digital age?

James Hewes: I think you have to be very pragmatic as a publisher and as an individual and a company. Very few companies have the appetite to make large investments into something like digital without having a solid base of profit behind them in which to fall back.

So, we were very clear if we were going to go out and do a large digital business, create a large events business, which we are in the process of doing, we needed to have a very stable and secure print base. In this market, print is still very strong. You can still make good money from print magazines and in some sectors it’s also growing, like the luxury category. So it is entirely feasible to have a very successful and sustainable business here and really if you’re going to do that, it gives you as a publisher some comfort as you make those investments in other media.

Samir Husni: Do you think all of the other line extensions, whether it’s the events or the digital or the mobile, can exist in this market without the core print product?

James Hewes: I think we’ll find out. I think we’re going to start doing some products now that are not based in print form, primarily starting in digital. So we’ll be able to get a sense of whether or not it’s possible to have a sustainable brand without a print anchor.

There are some brands that do that already here and I can give you an example, the trade publishing space, the B to B space, The Media Network. The Media Network is based here in Dubai and it’s basically a trade website for the magazine industry; the communications industry. And they’ve existed most successfully for the last few years without ever having a print component, ironically, for a magazine industry site.

So, I think it is possible and I believe it’s going to become more possible. But rather than saying that we have print brands and line extensions, I think it’s more about saying that we have brands. And each of those brands can spread over into a certain number of platforms and one of those might be print. And I love the phrase a friend of mine from the BBC uses when he talks about publishing. He says that we do print for profit and we do digital for growth. And I think that’s exactly right.

If you’re doing an extension of your brand and it’s print, you need to subject that extension to the same commercial rigor that you would any other line extension. And if it’s not going to be profitable, why would you do it? And if it is profitable then you should embrace it.

Samir Husni: What about the audience? We’ve heard that 95% of the audience in the Middle East is still Arabic-speaking, yet most of the magazines that we see are English editions.

James Hewes: I think it’s a fascinating case study. A large part of that in days gone by would have been that there was an extreme lack of transparency in the media industry here. And therefore you could publish magazines in English to relatively small audiences and make decent money, let’s be honest. I believe with the digital world that’s all going to change. Digital advertising not only needs transparency, it almost can’t operate without transparency.

If you think about something like programmatic advertising; it can only exist when the data is there, so you have to disclose your data if you want the programmatic revenue. And that’s going to force out into the open a lot of thinking, particularly among marketers and brands that if they can get clear proof of their ROI in digital then they must be able to get it in all of their other media as well. And I think when it comes down to it, the volume is there in the Arabic market, but we don’t yet have a good enough understanding of that audience to be able to identify where the niches are and where the quality segments are, the quality audience pieces are, but they are there. They’re absolutely there.

And I think that’s going to be a really exciting development in the next few years as we big publishing companies that have done so well in the English-speaking media start to pivot toward Arabic and start to apply some of the learnings that we’ve taken in the English space and apply it to Arabic, which by the way is not to down the efforts of Arabic-language media companies. There are a great many of them that do fantastically well. And for the time that I’ve been here, it’s been a real revelation because it has exposed me to the reality that there is a huge market in publishing that the rest of the publishing world never sees, which is the Arabic-language market. There are hundreds, thousands of magazines and hundreds of newspapers and thousands of websites that are out there publishing in Arabic, thriving and doing really, really well. But because it’s Arabic, because it’s never had the focus from the western world that other magazines and cultures have, it’s been hidden away, though they’re starting to come to the surface now.

Samir Husni: When you think about your three years here, has it all been smooth sailing or have you encountered some choppy seas along the way? What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

James Hewes: The biggest challenge that you have in any business now is culture; changing the company’s culture. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been 100% successful in changing Gulf News’ culture, that’s not my job and that’s not what I do. But I’d like to think that within our business unit, the publishing business unit, we’ve tried to embrace a culture that allows people to innovate and to take risks. I’m a great believer in giving people responsibility and in return they get accountability. You can take a project and run with it; you’re accountable for its results, but it’s yours. You can do what you like.

One of my absolute mantras is, and I think I heard it from some management guru; you hire good people and you give them the room to do their jobs. And that’s the biggest change and the biggest challenge that we’ve tried to bring into the business is to apply that rule.

Traditionally, a business is very used to having a very clear hierarchy structure, with a lot of power spread around senior management individuals, trying to delegate that power out to people and to get the company used to it, with functions like our finance department, our PR department and it’s great. When you sit down and explain to a finance team what you’re trying to do they nod and say yes, that sounds like a good idea. We’ve never done it before, but let’s try it.

So, it’s really gratifying to see a culture change to come along. And I think unless you do that, you can’t possibly hope to do any of the other plans that you have. I laugh sometimes when I go out into the market and see businesses, of which there are many in this region, huge businesses run by one person, and all of the decisions go through that one person. In this modern age, it’s impossible now to have the time and attention to cope with all of the different revenue streams that there are in the media business. And I think we’ve done a great job with that, thanks I large part to the leadership that our company has, to allow us to actually go out and try things.

Samir Husni: You also mentioned earlier that the values of the company today are much different than what they used to be. One example you mentioned was that it’s a given that you have to respect your audience, but in your case, you said that you want joy and happiness. And recently here in the United Arab Emirates, they established a new ministry for happiness. Do you think this is a trend born here that will spread around the globe?

James Hewes: Hopefully. I think it’s a very bold visionary move, as you’d expect from the government of Dubai. His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed, is very good at making those bold and visionary moves and it may pay off. I’m fully expecting that that’s going to be something that is copied elsewhere in the world when people see the effects of it. The happiness index and the idea that you can measure someone’s happiness and measure a country’s happiness, or a company’s happiness in our case and use that in a way to manage business is a great idea. People spend a third of their lives at work, they should enjoy it.

Samir Husni: I don’t know if you’re familiar with it, but there’s a magazine in the United States that’s around two years old called “Live Happy.” I interviewed the editor and she told me that happiness was a science and now more than ever people are studying it as a science. So, am I going to see a new happiness magazine coming out from Gulf News Publishing?

James Hewes: (Laughs) I don’t know if we’ll have a happiness magazine, but I’d like to think that happiness will be in all of our magazines.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add? You mentioned the luxury category and fixing print; how do you plan on fixing it?

James Hewes: In terms of print and luxury, I think the initial thing there is to find the right partner. We’re very lucky in that the luxury magazine that we’re launching next month is OK. We have a great partner who has really helped us to get access to the luxury market. You’ve got to recognize in business what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. If you know that there’s a strategic opportunity somewhere and you don’t have the skills or the knowledge, you have to go out and get them by whatever means you can, in some cases that means hiring new people, which we’ve done in this case. But also you’ve got to rely on partners. You have to find good partners who can help you out.

I started out in this business primarily doing licensing and syndication of magazine brands overseas and it taught me that partnerships are a really strong way to do business and if you get it right, everybody benefits. And if you’re going into a new space like luxury, you have to have partners.

You’ve got to also embrace the opportunity. It’s no good just picking at the edges and doing the wrong thing. You have to have two or three or four things in that space to show that you’re really committed to it.

Samir Husni: Why did you specifically go after the licensing of Citizen K?

James Hewes: We were impressed with the vision and we were impressed with the founder. The man who founded Citizen K, Kappauf, is a well-known figure in the fashion industry. He brings a credibility of himself to that brand and therefore to the industry, and so in extension he also brings that to us. It absolutely has to do with who you’re working with. We always used to find this on the reverse; I was very often on the other side of the coin when I was licensing around the world.

And one of the crucial factors about whether or not we were going to deal with someone was our personal feelings about the partner; if you don’t like somebody; chances are you really don’t want to have to do business with them. So, that likeability factor and a willingness to cooperate and be a partner, rather than having a client/supplier relationship is something that attracted us to Citizen K. And I have to say, of all of the licensing projects that I’ve been involved with, and I’ve been involved in more than 50 in my career, I have never seen the level of work that has gone into this project. These guys are absolutely fantastic.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

James Hewes: Opportunities for our brands to connect with consumers. And I love going to our events because that’s a chance to see sometimes our advertisers and sometimes our consumers in the flesh and to hear more about them and learn more about their brand experiences and to know that our brand has touched their lives in some way. So that’s a really powerful and uplifting moment.

When I worked on “Good Food” in the U.K., I used to love going to the “Good Food” show in Birmingham and sell subscriptions; I’d sometimes stand at the desk and sell subscriptions for the day, and it was a great way to meet your customers. And as you were selling them a subscription you could ask questions about their engagement with the magazine. You just got that anecdotal connection with your audience. You could put a face to your readers.

So that really gets me up in the morning, that idea that you’ve made a connection and actually made a difference in someone’s life. And you’ve entertained them with a future piece of knowledge that’s also helped them get through their day.

And that’s what I like about the digital opportunities; what excites me about the digital opportunities. I love sitting there and watching the analytics’ screen. It may sound boring, but you can see the number of people who are on your site right then and you can’t see that with a magazine. Occasionally when you worked in magazines you might see someone at a newsstand buying your magazine and you’d think, wow, that’s mine and they bought it. That’s fantastic. But now you can sit in the office 24/7 and see live the engagement consumers have with your product. It’s wonderful.

Samir Husni: If I showed up at your home one evening unexpectedly, what would I find you doing, reading a magazine; reading your iPad; watching television, or something else?

James Hewes: Probably a combination of all of those. I still read magazines and I’m a passionate reader. The genre of magazines really appeals to me. For example, I read “Motor Sport Magazine” from the U.K. I’m an absolute addict of that brand; it’s a fantastic brand and one that we’re hoping to bring here at some point.

I read magazines and books; I read books in print and I read them on my Kindle, it just depends on what kind of book it is. I watch TV; I must say the biggest change in my habits is that I watch much less linear TV than I did even a year ago. I watch almost all of my TV on demand now. But it’s a combination of all of those things, when I’m not playing with my children. Playing with my children is fun and it’s nice to see them interacting with magazines and books. My son is sitting home today reading his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in print and loving it. And I’m egging him on and really enthusiastic about that because I know it’s his gateway to knowledge and experiences.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

James Hewes: Not moving fast enough. I guess it’s the same in any company; you always sit there and look at your competitors and think how much faster they’re moving than you are. And they’re probably thinking the same thing when they look at your company. It never feels like you can act quick enough and I suspect even the guys at – I don’t know – pick a fast-moving company, even those guys probably think they can’t move fast enough.

So, I would say speed-to-market and the fear that somebody is going to do something before we do and our ideas are going to be trumped by somebody is what keeps me up at night.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Across the Pond, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | Leave a Comment »

Saudi Specialized Publishing Company: Bringing The Top 50 International Titles Plus A Host of Niche & Diverse Genres To The Arab World Since 2006 – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Mohammad Alomar, Managing Director, Saudi Specialized Publishing Company

February 16, 2016

Reporting from the FIPP Middle East & Africa conference in Dubai Feb. 10 and 11.

“Thinking, planning and mixing poetry with mathematics for new projects.”

“We do believe strongly in print. We do not think at all that print is dying or has already died, because I am doing the kind of business like Condé Nast International is doing. They are doing Madame Magazine for Air France; they are doing the same for BMW and Mercedes. We are doing this sector in print and we are making a lot of profit. And we know the market and we know that millennials are not on digital devices all the time. They know Vogue and Marie Claire. They know this magazine and that magazine and they’re bringing these beautiful things to their tables.” Mohammad Alomar

From Dubai with love…

Saudi Specialized Publishing Company has been bringing niche magazines to targeted audiences in the Arab world since 2006, along with licensing some of the most popular titles around. With support from their parent company, Saudi Research and Marketing Group, the SSPC is healthy and expanding with an optimistic eye on the future.

Mohammad Alomar is managing director of the company and leads his group, according to Mohammad, like a maestro guides his orchestra to the ultimate goal of bringing entertainment and joy to its audience. Mohammad has been in journalism and publishing media for more than 20 years as an editor-in-chief of many magazines, among them Robb Report Arabia, the Arabic edition for the luxury Robb Report magazine.

He has brought his many skills and abundant experience to SSPC and has led the company in developing an extensive base of investment in international licensing, commercial publishing and education. I spoke with Mohammad recently at the FIPP Middle East and Africa conference held in Dubai and we had a very interesting and exuberant talk about the status of Middle East publishing and the many accomplishments, and ones still to be made, of Saudi Specialized Publishing Company. Under Mohammad’s leadership, SSPC has forged diversified business relations with a number of international publishers like Disney, Societé du Figaro, Editoriale Domus, Meredith Corporation and Curtco Media. The future looks bright indeed for SSPC.

So, I hope you enjoy this glimpse into international publishing and licensing at its best as you read the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Mohammad Alomar, Managing Director, Saudi Specialized Publishing Company.

But first, the sound-bites:

On the genesis of the Saudi Specialized Publishing Company: The Saudi Specialized Publishing Company was established in 2006 out of the idea that we are the largest in the market, but after reviewing the kind of changes that the market would be facing in the next few years in publishing when it came to newspapers and magazines we began to think about special publishing targeting a special audience because the market was fragmented and cemented.

On already being specialized with the foundational company and what made them feel as though they needed even more specialization with the establishment of Saudi Specialized Publishing Company: For us mainly, most of our dailies were in politics. We have a daily in sports and the magazines were mainly lifestyle magazines, like Sayidaty. We moved to be a public company. Moving from a holding to a public company means you have a big responsibility to shareholders. Then we had to figure out our next move and the next move was establishing the company and new horizons that were very successful in the world. We started talking with Condé Nast, Time Inc. Meredith and others and we started with our partners in New York. And we saw that the kind of target audience we could create with the kind of advertising for those segments would make it a very seductive choice for us.

On his mission to bring the top 50 magazines in the world to the Arab region and on how he identifies the top 50: We did our exercise very well. We started in the markets in the Western world. In the lifestyle category, we asked ourselves what we wanted. We talked with Condé Nast and I’m a very big fan of Vanity Fair. And we knew we also needed something for mother and child; is there one? We wanted something with interior design and indoor lifestyle, like Better Homes and Gardens.

On the fact that he’s been described as a hands-on director: Yes, especially when it comes to Robb Report. I’m the editor-in-chief and I’m always telling my team that I’m the maestro of an orchestra, not a manager in a company. A maestro should not play every instrument. If he did he’d be a clown. If you see a maestro, sometimes he tells the orchestra how to play, but more often they are the best around and they’re closing their eyes and flying high in the sky, and even the maestro is moving his hand without opening his eyes. He is leading their souls to entertain the audience. This is my role.

On the biggest challenge he’s had to face: It hasn’t been smooth sailing always. Building something new, you always encounter challenges, and encountering sometimes, some regulations that will not allow you to fly higher. Sometimes even in big organizations you have corporate politics, but I consider myself lucky enough that I was supported big time by my CEO and we’re friends. He told me one day when we met for the first time, we spoke about the concept of specialized publishing, he told me to consider my dreams. He said that was my job description, to fulfill my dreams here. And we did that.

On his opinion of the future of print: The future we believe in. Everyone has a TV, but it did not destroy the legacy of radio. These are media and media are pipes. The biggest challenge is readers and what they want. If they want apples, then you need to invest in apples. If they would like to have apricots, invest in apricots. We believe and this is the most important thing, digital expanded our reach, it didn’t threaten our circulation at all.

On what he would hope to say he had accomplished in one year: I would tell you about the first issues of our magazines and that digital will be doing some things from sites and apps, but most importantly, we will be capitalizing on ink on paper. This is what we believe.

On anything else he’d like to add: We do believe strongly in print. We do not think at all that print is dying or has already died, because I am doing the kind of business like Condé Nast International is doing. They are doing Madame Magazine for Air France; they are doing the same for BMW and Mercedes. We are doing this sector in print and we are making a lot of profit. And we know the market and we know that millennials are not on digital devices all the time. They know Vogue and Marie Claire. They know this magazine and that magazine and they’re bringing these beautiful things to their tables.

On what motivates him to get out of bed in the morning: My work is my lifestyle. It’s not my way of living; it is my lifestyle and my passion. I have two important things in my life: my son and my work. It’s like birds, they do not wake up to eat; they wake up to sing. And they enjoy it and I do strongly enjoy my work, because it is my lifestyle. I’m there sometimes at 6:00 a.m. and leaving at 9:00 p.m.

On what keeps him up at night: Thinking, planning and mixing poetry with mathematics for new projects.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Mohammad Alomar, Managing Director, Saudi Specialized Publishing Company.

Samir Husni: Tell me a little bit about the beginnings of the Saudi Specialized Publishing Company.

Mohammad Alomar: The Saudi Specialized Publishing Company was established in 2006 out of the idea that we are the largest in the market, but after reviewing the kind of changes that the market would be facing in the next few years in publishing when it came to newspapers and magazines we began to think about special publishing targeting a special audience because the market was fragmented and cemented.

So we established Saudi Specialized Publishing Company as the platform of special publishing, special content creation, and for international publishing and licensing.

Samir Husni: However, the mother company was a leader in the Arab world in terms of daily newspapers and specialized newspapers, like the sports newspaper. Why didn’t you think that was enough of a degree of specialization; what forced you to move into even ultra-specializations?

Mohammad Alomar: For us mainly, most of our dailies were in politics. We have a daily in sports and the magazines were mainly lifestyle magazines, like Sayidaty. We moved to be a public company. Moving from a holding to a public company means you have a big responsibility to shareholders. Then we had to figure out our next move and the next move was establishing the company and new horizons that were very successful in the world.

We started talking with Condé Nast, Time Inc. Meredith and others and we started with our partners in New York. And we saw that the kind of target audience we could create with the kind of advertising for those segments would make it a very seductive choice for us.

When the company was established, it was 500,000 riyals, half a million riyals; we didn’t want to risk that much, but the profit for the first year was 200% and the second year was 400%. In 2006/2007, the company became public and the stocks changed. In 2008, after three years of very big growth in our area, the board made the decision for us to see a holding with the capital of 100 million riyals. And this became a small growth in the womb of the mother company. And that growth became Saudi Specialized Publishing Company, which became SSPH (Saudi Specialized Publishing Holdings).

Under SSPH, we have a company in Dubai, in Amman and two companies in Riyadh. Then it came to us that the world was now a new opportunity. We were doing very well, so we invested big time. We were not to start a business from scratch, no; that wasn’t the model we were doing. We started buying the gas stations, not building the gas stations. We acquired the biggest company in education in the region, two companies in U.A.E., one company in Saudi Arabia and one in Amman.

Before this, for our business only and for the kind of magazines we were publishing, we acquired the biggest printing house in Riyadh to add it to our sister companies in printing. In 2007, to add to the business of printing we began under the name Saudi Printing and Packaging Company. Traditionally, we used to print dailies and weeklies, now we do a lot of business for others; we are publishing for a lot of other companies that must be licensed. So the kind of operation we do is good for the sister companies.

Samir Husni: You mentioned earlier that you want to get the top 50 magazines worldwide and bring them to the Arab world, to the region. How are you identifying the top 50?

PA FEB Cover Mohammad Alomar: We did our exercise very well. We started in the markets in the Western world. In the lifestyle category, we asked ourselves what we wanted. We talked with Condé Nast and I’m a very big fan of Vanity Fair. And we knew we also needed something for mother and child; is there one? We wanted something with interior design and indoor lifestyle, like Better Homes and Gardens.

Our CEO has been a big supporter of these things we’ve been doing and is an architect. He has a Ph.D. in architecture and he was for a while the minister of education in Saudi Arabia. And he is one of the biggest figures followed on Twitter. Two million follow him on Twitter.

So, at the time we spoke about the new initiatives, he supported the idea to go and grow bigger with all of these magazines. I told him that he being an architect, he knew that we needed Domes; it is the Bible of architecture, but we don’t want to compete with our sister company, so I was more inclined toward Madame Figaro. I wanted to speak to ladies who were into fashion traditionally and plus we are close politically and culturally etc. So, we targeted Madame Figaro. And we brought it as a lifestyle magazine.

And for the very young generation, for children whose moms are reading for them, to 15-16 year olds, Disney publications were the target. We publish more than 10 of their magazines. But the number one magazine published with our populace in Beirut in 2006 was Businessweek.

When we started with Businessweek, I spoke with Time Inc. about Fortune. Forbes, at that time, was with somebody else in the region. And I adored The Economist and what we could have done with The Economist, but they were not at that time into licensing. Also they were selling the syndication of The New York Times and they are my friends. We met in Paris, London one time. This way when we studied the numbers about the best magazines, we studied what were the target audiences of these magazines. This is a very beautiful addition to our very strong growth structure.

Yes, we shall not prostrate, this is a very stupid way to do licensing. We choose from the original magazines, whatever is appealing to our readership, and we do the other part, sometimes it’s 50% or 60% or 70% in-house made, but up to international standards, so this was how we did it on many sectors. One day we dreamt we might have Fortune or The Economist. At that time we were negotiating with Curtco Media about Robb Report, which is the number one digital magazine in the world. We work with The Economist of course, in syndication.

In 2008 it was a rosy year for us, though all of the problems were starting in the United States with the crash. In 2008, we achieved double the number net profit, and then in 2009 the international crash happened. We were hit badly. But we didn’t lose. We went down from 240 to about 80, while others died. After that, it was the consequences of the international crisis in Dubai and in the region. In 2010 it was very bad in the region. So we suffered in 2010.

After that, we went down. Our people thought that during that we might die, but we reached the bottom, took a breath, and then we came out higher. It was the year we went down and then came up.

Our CEO has returned to the group after being the minister of education and we’re planning again. We are publishing and reprinting daily in more capitals around the world. And they set us free to fly higher again and again in licensing international business. In our tradition falcons only go up, up and up, but they don’t eat a lot, they are very picky. They choose whatever they like to eat and this is what we’re doing now.

Samir Husni: It’s my understanding from talking to some of your editors and others that you’re a hands-on managing director; you like to read every word and see every picture before the magazine goes to print.

RRA Cover 34 Mohammad Alomar: Yes, especially when it comes to Robb Report. I’m the editor-in-chief and I’m always telling my team that I’m the maestro of an orchestra, not a manager in a company. A maestro should not play every instrument. If he did he’d be a clown. If you see a maestro, sometimes he tells the orchestra how to play, but more often they are the best around and they’re closing their eyes and flying high in the sky, and even the maestro is moving his hand without opening his eyes. He is leading their souls to entertain the audience. This is my role.

When it comes to Robb Report, it’s music for me. I adore language and my Arabic language. It’s poetry and I told them that we want, especially with this magazine, and they promised the best level of English would be involved, as if Shakespeare were writing about stocks and finances, and that he wrote the magazine from the beginning to the end. The system you use, the orchestra, should not mix beautiful music. The passion you have helps you lead sometimes modestly and set a good model, so this is what we’ve been doing. Yes, it’s the passion and by the end of the day, as you know, you’re a journalist. And being a journalist means your name. If you want to come up to the stage and say anything, people will not spare your face.

Samir Husni: Has it always been smooth sailing for you or have you had some choppy seas along the way during your journalistic journey? What has been the biggest challenge that you’ve been faced with and how did you overcome it?

Mohammad Alomar: It hasn’t been smooth sailing always. Building something new, you always encounter challenges, and encountering sometimes, some regulations that will not allow you to fly higher. Sometimes even in big organizations you have corporate politics, but I consider myself lucky enough that I was supported big time by my CEO and we’re friends. He told me one day when we met for the first time, we spoke about the concept of specialized publishing, he told me to consider my dreams. He said that was my job description, to fulfill my dreams here. And we did that.

Other than the difficult financial years of 2008-2010, we suffered, but we were very persistent and believed strongly in what we were doing. And thank God, we’re flying high again and making profits again.

Samir Husni: You’ve bought a new printing plant, so that tells me that you do still believe in print, but what about the future?

Mohammad Alomar: The future we believe in. Everyone has a TV, but it did not destroy the legacy of radio. These are media and media are pipes. The biggest challenge is readers and what they want. If they want apples, then you need to invest in apples. If they would like to have apricots, invest in apricots. We believe and this is the most important thing, digital expanded our reach, it didn’t threaten our circulation at all. Being a very big conglomerate, we have our own big solution company and the media that’s working in the market, the share is 32% of the Middle East market, and it’s our company. And print is our company. Events are our company. Education is our company. We could transform the cost in a smart way to lay the groundwork for our business to be better. This way we could overcome whatever problems we faced after.

Samir Husni: If a year from now you and I are sitting and having this same discussion, what would you hope to tell me that you’ve accomplished in that year?

Mohammad Alomar: I would tell you, Mr. Magazine™ these are the first issues of our magazines and I have kept them for you.

Samir Husni: (Laughs).

Mohammad Alomar: I would tell you about the first issues of our magazines and that digital will be doing some things from sites and apps, but most importantly, we will be capitalizing on ink on paper. This is what we believe.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Diplo37-1 Mohammad Alomar: We do believe strongly in print. We do not think at all that print is dying or has already died, because I am doing the kind of business like Condé Nast International is doing. They are doing Madame Magazine for Air France; they are doing the same for BMW and Mercedes. We are doing this sector in print and we are making a lot of profit. And we know the market and we know that millennials are not on digital devices all the time. They know Vogue and Marie Claire. They know this magazine and that magazine and they’re bringing these beautiful things to their tables.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Mohammad Alomar: My work is my lifestyle. It’s not my way of living; it is my lifestyle and my passion. I have two important things in my life: my son and my work. It’s like birds, they do not wake up to eat; they wake up to sing. And they enjoy it and I do strongly enjoy my work, because it is my lifestyle. I’m there sometimes at 6:00 a.m. and leaving at 9:00 p.m.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Mohammad Alomar: Thinking, planning and mixing poetry with mathematics for new projects.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Across the Pond, Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | Leave a Comment »

Southern California Life Magazine: Celebrating, In Ink On Paper, The Lifestyle, Culture, People, Destinations and Diversities That Characterize The Southern Region Of The Golden State – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Monique Reidy, Founder, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, Southern California Life Magazine

February 12, 2016

“When I was working on my thesis, I did quite a few interviews with other publishers and editors to find out, basically, what drove their businesses and why they chose print as opposed to digital, and most of them said don’t do print. Print is very expensive; it’s evolving and it’ll probably phase out. I found that that is not the case because there’s a lot of novelty in digital and people like to read their e-books and things, but after a while I think people realize that they want paper in their hands; they like to be able to highlight and make notes in the margins; you can’t really do that on an e-book. I mean you can to a certain degree, but it’s not as easy to refer to your notes when you need them in an instant.” Monique Reidy

“You can lose things when you’ve stored them online. I don’t care what kind of cloud system you’re using; I’ve had instances where very important notes just evaporated. And you just can’t refer to them anymore, so paper is very important.” Monique Reidy

Creating something from your heart, from the passion that overflows from deep in your soul and spills out onto the printed page that your own vision generates is something that few people realize, that culmination of their dreams. But Monique Reidy is fortunate enough to be one of those “few” people. One of those select visionaries who didn’t let human doubt and financial fear deter her from launching her own magazine, Southern California Life. And she has never been more proud or consumed in her life.

Southern California Life Magazine is more than a regional magazine, as Monique explained to me during a recent conversation I had with her about the magazine. SCL spotlights and highlights the entire southern region of the Golden state, while singling out specific entertainment and travel spots that are “must-see” attractions and activities that are “must-do” adventures. She strives to keep the content authentic and compelling and believes strongly in the principals of good journalism, while offering readers a chance to celebrate the very best of Southern California life.

It’s a beautiful magazine with an addictive personality much like its charming founder, publisher and editor-in-chief. Monique and I enjoyed an inspirational conversation that was open and totally sincere about her love of the printed word and her deep-seated passion for magazines. We also talked about those doubts and fears that she pushed away as she started down this dream woven path of creating a print magazine that some thought showed a misplaced trust in her own vision.

It was a delightful and motivational discussion that I share with you in the hope that you never abandon your dream, no matter how impossible it may seem. And now the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Monique Reidy, Founder, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, Southern California Life Magazine.

But first, the sound-bites:

On why she decided to launch Southern California Life: I’ve been a magazine person my entire life. Academically, that was my focus. And I’ve helped people launch magazines before and helped some friends with their startups and I’ve been in publishing for about 30 years now. About three years ago I thought, I’ve helped other people do their magazines basically just because they were friends and I worked like a dog doing so, I might as well do my own. I have a master’s degree in the subject and it’s been my passion for a long time.

On whether any of her colleagues called her crazy for launching a print magazine in this digital age: Yes, that is absolutely true. In fact, when I was working on my thesis, I did quite a few interviews with other publishers and editors to find out, basically, what drove their businesses and why they chose print as opposed to digital, and most of them said don’t do print. Print is very expensive; it’s evolving and it’ll probably phase out. I found that that is not the case because there’s a lot of novelty in digital and people like to read their e-books and things, but after a while I think people realize that they want paper in their hands; they like to be able to highlight and make notes in the margins; you can’t really do that on an e-book. I mean you can to a certain degree, but it’s not as easy to refer to your notes when you need them in an instant.

On whether it’s all been smooth sailing or there have been some choppy seas since she started the magazine: Oh no, there were choppy seas, for sure. Startups are not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of work that has to be done on the front end and if that’s not in place before you launch your first issue, you might as well forget it. We conducted focus groups to determine how people like to read magazines; what they like to read; what they don’t like to read. We put a very strong advisory board together, people who are Ph.D.’s, professors from universities, people who have marketing companies, people who will tell us the truth; we didn’t want someone to say that our magazine was so pretty. We wanted someone who would say, as was the case, I wouldn’t put a single client in your magazine until you change this or that. So, it helped us to really hone in on being an excellent product as opposed to just a pretty magazine.

On what advice she would give someone who wants to start a magazine: I would say first of all, is it a passion or is it just an idea to generate money? I know that a lot of magazines exist because their main interests are to generate advertising so they can make money, but they have absolutely no journalism experience whatsoever. And that’s reflective in the content. So, my first question to them would be: do you have a passion for magazines; are you educated in, for example, AP style, advertising and just all of the components that make a good print magazine.

On the many hats she wears at the magazine: publisher, founder, editor-in-chief, and which is her favorite role: The ads are my least favorite part, which is why there is an ad team in place and an ad director. I’m not a salesperson by nature, but I love the creative aspect and that’s the nice thing about being an editor; you get to compose assignments and work with the photographer and the art director. There’s a lot of creativity there.

On anything that she’d like to add: I’ve had so much schooling on magazines and journalism; AP Style and how to write and how to compose and all of that, but no one teaches you how to launch a magazine. Well, you do, because that’s what you do. But typically that’s one area that’s weak in our academic culture and I don’t know why. I know a lot of great journalism professors who are teaching students writing styles, composition and interview styles, but I think a great education in launching a magazine, if someone actually wants to do that, would be valuable.

On if she had the chance to rewind the clock she would do anything differently: Yes, I might have gotten some investors. This whole thing is self-funded and I’m fortunate enough to have a wonderful husband who has been incredibly supportive. But here’s one reason that I didn’t pursue investors, and that is the one thing that I go back and forth with, but I always come back to this. When you have investors they’re going to tell you how to run your magazine.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the morning: Surprisingly, it’s not my work, it’s my family. I have three great daughters and a couple of incredibly wonderful grandkids. And my husband is incredibly supportive and I have great friends. You just can’t wake up in a bad mood. There is so much happening in the world that can be quite depressing and you just have to make a list of what you have to live for. I have this gratitude journal, I know it sounds dorky, but every morning I write down what I’m grateful for and every night I put down what amazing things happened that day and how could I have made that day better.

On what keeps her up at night: My work. (Laughs) My husband is a physician and he has to be at the hospital by 6:30 a.m., so he goes to bed early, but I never get to the bottom of my list. I could stay up 24/7 and still not be caught up. And again, when it’s a brand new startup you don’t have a big staff, so you wear many hats and there’s a lot that must be done. It’s a very deadline-driven business, as you know.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Monique Reidy, Founder, Publisher & Editor-In-Chief, Southern California Life Magazine.

Samir Husni: Why did you decide to launch Southern California Life magazine and what led you to that decision?

Monique Reidy: I’ve always been a paper magazine person; print magazines. Even from the time I was a young child I collected magazines, all the teenaged magazines, and as an adult I subscribed to 31 magazines up until recently and it’s just something that I’ve always had a passion for. I love magazines more so than books.

I studied communication/journalism in college, both on the undergrad and graduate programs. And even as a returning student in the master’s program, I went to the director of the program and said that I was an older student and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I asked was it possible to devise a program where I could learn more about magazines, do research in magazines and avoid some of the basic classes and fortunately Pepperdine University allowed me to create a program where I could focus on magazines specifically.

I’ve been a magazine person my entire life. Academically, that was my focus. And I’ve helped people launch magazines before and helped some friends with their startups and I’ve been in publishing for about 30 years now. About three years ago I thought, I’ve helped other people do their magazines basically just because they were friends and I worked like a dog doing so, I might as well do my own. I have a master’s degree in the subject and it’s been my passion for a long time.

So, I went ahead and launched the business. It was quite scary, but I did have some friends who were very supportive and some people that I hired who were bright and had experience in publishing and that’s key. But I tell you, if you don’t have the passion for it, you might as well forget it, because there are going to be challenges and moments of sheer terror and if you don’t have that passion that drives you forward, you’re going to give up.

Two things sort of propelled me into this business; first was my passion for Southern California and the second was my passion for magazines. And there are a ton of regionals in our area; the market is basically saturated with regional magazines. We have Malibu Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine; there’s Westlake Magazine, but there wasn’t a magazine that basically covered the entire territory of Southern California. And we felt that visitors to this area liked to visit the entire territory of Southern California, not just Malibu or Beverly Hills; not just Los Angeles, they come and they want to go to San Diego, Rodeo Drive; they like to drive up the coast, so we wanted to offer something for those people who wanted to learn more about the community and wanted to take it in as an entire region, as opposed to these segregated little areas. So, that was the thinking behind the concept.

Samir Husni: Why did you choose print? I’m sure a lot of your colleagues asked you were you out of your mind to start a print magazine in this digital age that we live in.

Monique Reidy: Yes, that is absolutely true. In fact, when I was working on my thesis, I did quite a few interviews with other publishers and editors to find out, basically, what drove their businesses and why they chose print as opposed to digital, and most of them said don’t do print. Print is very expensive; it’s evolving and it’ll probably phase out. I found that that is not the case because there’s a lot of novelty in digital and people like to read their e-books and things, but after a while I think people realize that they want paper in their hands; they like to be able to highlight and make notes in the margins; you can’t really do that on an e-book. I mean you can to a certain degree, but it’s not as easy to refer to your notes when you need them in an instant.

Also, you can lose things when you’ve stored them online. I don’t care what kind of cloud system you’re using; I’ve had instances where very important notes just evaporated. And you just can’t refer to them anymore, so paper is very important. And even in terms of digital calendars, things drop off of the calendars on occasion. It’s not typical, but it does happen. And we’ve found that even with that, people are returning to their paper calendars and schedules and planners. All of that is what made us decide that print is probably more reliable.

One of the editors that I had interviewed with Robb Report had said that he did his research when he was launching a different magazine and realized that it cost $47 million to actually launch a magazine product, which made him decide to go digital and that particular business phased out. Well, that made us think quite long and hard about our decision to launch a print product. But it wasn’t $47 million when all was said and done; we just picked a regional magazine as opposed to a national magazine. So, you basically count the cost on the frontend and do your research correctly. We had focus groups who said that they preferred paper magazines to digital magazines and print was more engaging. God help a person who goes to a hair salon and can’t find a magazine to read or someone who is waiting in a doctor’s office who can’t find a magazine.

So, I think that people love magazines and that was what made us decide to move forward with a print product as opposed to just digital. Now we have a website, but it’s entirely different content than our magazine. Nowadays you have to have a digital product because people ask: what is your website and it’s a whole do-or-die business when it comes to digital platforms. I think if you love a paper magazine and you want print, that’s what you should go for.

Samir Husni: Have you had to cross some choppy seas since you started, or has it all been smooth sailing?

Monique Reidy: Oh no, there were choppy seas, for sure. Startups are not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot of work that has to be done on the frontend and if that’s not in place before you launch your first issue, you might as well forget it. We conducted focus groups to determine how people like to read magazines; what they like to read; what they don’t like to read. We put a very strong advisory board together, people who are Ph.D.’s, professors from universities, people who have marketing companies, people who will tell us the truth; we didn’t want someone to say that our magazine was so pretty. We wanted someone who would say, as was the case, I wouldn’t put a single client in your magazine until you change this or that. So, it helped us to really hone in on being an excellent product as opposed to just a pretty magazine.

And we wanted to deliver content that was appropriate and that’s hard to do. It’s a lot of mornings where you wake up and go, oh my goodness; I’m not going to make it through this day because there’s just so much to do.

And the funding is terrifying. It is quite expensive to manage a magazine; it’s expensive to print; it’s expensive to mail; it’s expensive to market. And as a startup, you’re not going to get advertisers right away because nobody is going to sink money into a magazine they’ve never heard of. So, there is quite a bit of challenges, but if you count the costs on the frontend, you’re ready for the challenge.

Samir Husni: I am a student and I’m putting myself in your shoes when you were a student and I come to you and say: Monique, I have an idea for a magazine. What do you tell them? Run away; forget about it? What advice would you give that person?

Monique Reidy: I would say first of all, is it a passion or is it just an idea to generate money? I know that a lot of magazines exist because their main interests are to generate advertising so they can make money, but they have absolutely no journalism experience whatsoever. And that’s reflective in the content. So, my first question to them would be: do you have a passion for magazines; are you educated in, for example, AP style, advertising and just all of the components that make a good print magazine. Is this something that you’re going to be committed to, because it’s a lot of work and a lot of time and effort?

And most importantly, do your research. I would never deter someone from launching a magazine as long as they do it correctly. I think that there’s an awful lot of research that has to be done to determine what the competition is; what the climate is, just many factors. I think one of the more important things is to look at the competition. Who are you going to be racing against? And what’s going to make your product better than theirs and why would someone want to devote their time and money and services to your print magazine as opposed to someone else’s?
If you believe that your answers will rate higher on all of those questions, then I think you should definitely move forward.

One of the really significant things that happened in one of our focus groups was one woman said, you know, I’m tired of buying men’s magazines to learn what the men know. I’d like for a woman’s magazine to be able to teach me something besides getting a flat stomach and shiny hair, which if you read the cover lines on many of the women’s magazines it’s all about improving your physique and things like that. She said I want to learn how to travel smart; I want to learn to invest; do all of the things that a guy is taught in his magazine.

So, I think that maybe conducting focus groups or doing some sort of research in determining what your readership is looking for; what their needs are is very important. And where they’ll spend money to get what you’re offering.

Samir Husni: You wear many hats with the magazine. You’re the publisher, founder and editor-in-chief. Which one of those personalities do you enjoy the most? Selling the ads, writing your editorial, coming up with the ideas; what’s your favorite part?

Monique Reidy: The ads are my least favorite part, which is why there is an ad team in place and an ad director. I’m not a salesperson by nature, but I love the creative aspect and that’s the nice thing about being an editor; you get to compose assignments and work with the photographer and the art director. There’s a lot of creativity there.

But magazines are a mental business and also an emotional business. There are a lot of aspects to putting together a magazine as opposed to, for example, having an accounting firm that’s entirely intellectual. I prefer the creative part, the more linear sort of work, rather than the sales and the money and all of that. That’s not my strongpoint. You hire the best people in those categories and you trust them to make that part happen for you. So, my favorite part is the editorial and the creative angles.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Monique Reidy: I’ve had so much schooling on magazines and journalism; AP Style and how to write and how to compose and all of that, but no one teaches you how to launch a magazine. Well, you do, because that’s what you do. But typically that’s one area that’s weak in our academic culture and I don’t know why. I know a lot of great journalism professors who are teaching students writing styles, composition and interview styles, but I think a great education in launching a magazine, if someone actually wants to do that, would be valuable. And I’m not really sure that is widely available. And perhaps that’s why so many fail, is that they don’t really do their homework on the frontend.

Samir Husni: Were you stunned and surprised when you launched Southern California Life and it did not cost you $47 million?

Monique Reidy: No, but we’re getting there. (Laughs)

Samir Husni: (Laughs too).

Monique Reidy: You know I was surprised completely, because you get into a business because of the passion, but then when you make your passion a business, the business becomes the most challenging part because most creatives want to do their magazine for the love of it, and then they discover about 10 minutes into it; I’ve got the IRS thing, and don’t forget your taxes and so there’s a lot of that part, which is necessary, that you don’t really think about.

Had I considered all of the things that I think are huge challenges and obstacles, I don’t know that I would have moved forward, but I did move forward because of my love for the entire system. I love the production and I love the result. And that’s what really opened it up for me. There are quite a number of days where you just realize that there were many angles about it all that you never considered.

But again, as I said in the beginning, if you have the passion for it, that’s what propels you forward, because there are certainly an awful lot of details that might cause you to rethink it. Just being undeterred, committed and devoted, and having a team alongside that have the same vision is important.

Samir Husni: If you had the chance to rewind the clock, would you do anything differently?

Monique Reidy: Yes, I might have gotten some investors. This whole thing is self-funded and I’m fortunate enough to have a wonderful husband who has been incredibly supportive.

But here’s one reason that I didn’t pursue investors, and that is the one thing that I go back and forth with, but I always come back to this. When you have investors they’re going to tell you how to run your magazine. They’re going to say, oh, you know, we’d like more stories about our friend being a finance guy or whatever topic they want. And we’ve had a very clear vision from the beginning. If you’re going to have people telling you to sway your content this way or that, you can basically veer off of your vision quickly. We’re pure journalists; we love the craft and we want to do it right.

We even struggle with native advertising and we feel like if we’re ever hiding some sort of paid editorial, it’s not right and it’s deceiving. But if we ever do such a thing, and we have found that most of our advertisers do prefer editorial, we will list it as sponsored content.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

Monique Reidy: Surprisingly, it’s not my work, it’s my family. I have three great daughters and a couple of incredibly wonderful grandkids. And my husband is incredibly supportive and I have great friends. You just can’t wake up in a bad mood. There is so much happening in the world that can be quite depressing and you just have to make a list of what you have to live for. I have this gratitude journal, I know it sounds dorky, but every morning I write down what I’m grateful for and every night I put down what amazing things happened that day and how could I have made that day better.

So, it’s a lot of self-reflection, but it’s what drives me out of bed. As I said before, there have been days where I’ve put my feet down on the floor and thought, oh my goodness, this day is going to be a challenge, but you can’t look at the negatives because those will always keep you in bed. You have to pop out of bed remembering how blessed you are.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Monique Reidy: My work. (Laughs) My husband is a physician and he has to be at the hospital by 6:30 a.m., so he goes to bed early, but I never get to the bottom of my list. I could stay up 24/7 and still not be caught up. And again, when it’s a brand new startup you don’t have a big staff, so you wear many hats and there’s a lot that must be done. It’s a very deadline-driven business, as you know. So, that keeps me up at night. I stay up until I feel like I can’t work any longer.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in A Launch Story..., Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | Leave a Comment »

Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers: Treating Motherhood As A Topic Worthy Of Literature For Over 15 Years – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Marcelle Soviero, Owner & Editor-In-Chief, Brain, Child & Brain, Teen.

February 8, 2016

“Our readers still like hard copy. I think print is important for this kind of content to sort of snuggle up with, while you’re feeding your baby even, and just be able to read and be stimulated intellectually with a magazine on your lap.” Marcelle Soviero

Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers was founded in 2000 and is an award-winning literary magazine dedicated to motherhood. Unfortunately, four years ago the magazine was about to shut down its operation when an essayist and writer happened to send in a submission to the magazine. When she was told that no submissions were being accepted due to the publication’s closure, she did what she felt she had to do when she heard the news: she bought it.

That writer was Marcelle Soviero, who bought Brain, Child in 2012 and immediately launched Brain, Teen to complement a magazine that she had believed in since its inception in 2000. As a mother of five children, Marcelle had grown her children up with the magazine and had always been one of its biggest fans.

Now as the owner, and editor-in-chief, she has expanded the magazine’s social media footprint extensively and has moved the print edition of Brain, Child into the digital realms, while maintaining Brain, Teen and the brand’s annual anthology, in print.

I spoke with Marcelle recently and we talked about her passion for the brand and the decision to take Brain, Child digital-only and her hope that someday the magazine will once again be offered in print as Brain, Teen and her yearly special issues are. And we talked about the brand’s mission: to bring the voices of women of different backgrounds and circumstances together on the page, the website and in the online community. Through essays, fiction and feature stories, Marcelle chooses the best writers she can find to connect mothers with many diverse perspectives on dealing with motherhood in the 21st century.

Marcelle is a woman who believes in print and the need for it in today’s digital age, but also understands the positivity and reach that digital can bring to a brand when the two components are working together for a complementary common goal. And with a literary magazine like Brain, Child, the need for print and digital is strong.

So, I hope that you enjoy the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Brain, Child’s own mother of invention, Marcelle Soviero.

But first the sound-bites:

On what made her buy Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers: I was a reader and a writer when my children were young. And I have five children, so I sort of grew them up with the magazine, if you will. I went to submit my writing to them one day and it said that they were ceasing publication. So, I immediately called them up and told them that I wanted to buy it and asked what the picture looked like, because I still believed in the magazine.

On whether her decision to buy was based on business or passion: It was definitely a decision of passion. And then when it became real; when I called the owners and they told me that they hadn’t even thought of selling it; I started to do the numbers and thought that it really made sense and that I could make it work because I was so passionate about it.

On whether people told her she was crazy to invest in print in a digital age: Many people said that to me in jest, but in truth as well. And it has been hard; it’s not easy to keep it up, but we’re healthy and have a good readership. I certainly brought the magazine into the digital age; we have digital products and our social media footprint has gone up to 190,000 on Facebook. When I bought it we were at 8,000, so we’ve certainly developed a wider audience using digital tools and having digital products.

On how she would describe the magazine to someone who had never seen it before: Brain, Child is the magazine for thinking mothers; it’s the largest, oldest literary magazine for mothers. And we’re distributed worldwide. And I also own and edit it.

On what she’s offering mothers that they can’t get anyplace else: We’re offering personal stories and narratives that are edited; we actually edit our pieces. These aren’t just long pieces slapped up on the Internet; we have a rigorous editing, fact-checking, proofreading system that’s expensive, but I will keep it in place because I believe in it.

On whether she changed anything about the magazine after she bought it or kept it the same: No, we did a whole redesign of the magazine after the first issue. We went in and sort of updated everything with a professional designer and we’ve had good feedback with that. In fact, what was most interesting was when I first took it over and it was announced by the previous owner that they weren’t going out of business that I was buying it instead; I received fan mail from around the world, literally, as though I were their knight in shining armor, thanking me for saving the magazine.

On launching Brain, Teen simultaneously with taking over the magazine: Yes, I bought the magazine in August, 2012 and we began planning, and I think the issue actually came out in 2013, the special Brain, Teen issue. It was my immediate plan. It was the business idea that I thought of immediately to sort of bring the business up to speed.

On how large her team is: They are all consultants to the company, freelance, and I have a managing editor. Otherwise, certainly our writers are from all around the world. We get about 1,000 to 2,000 submissions each month for the magazine, both online and digital.

On which she finds more exciting as a writer, seeing her byline in print or online: I would say initially it was print that I found more exciting, but now, as I tell my authors, because we publish a lot more online than we do in print, the readership is so much greater online. It’s not even comparable; our circulation is relatively small, and as I said, I’ve already told you the numbers on our community pages and other digital outlets. So, in terms of actually having the writing out there, it’s become much more important to have the online byline, but my passion is to have my byline in print, I’d say.

On why she thinks print is still important in this digital age: Our readers still like hard copy. I think print is important for this kind of content to sort of snuggle up with, while you’re feeding your baby even, and just be able to read and be stimulated intellectually with a magazine on your lap.

On any challenges she’s had to face during her four-year journey with the magazine: There have been many challenges and hurdles in just supporting a print magazine with the numbers being nearly impossible. And if we didn’t have the online component, I don’t think that I could do it. Just supporting the print and production and design process and doing it well, as I said, with the best writers; the best design team and things like that, has been a real challenge to make it work.

On whether her magazine is print + digital free and whether she feels they complement each other: No, our magazine Brain, Child is only digital, it’s only online. And our print product, the special issue for parents of teens and our annual Greatest Hits, are print. So, they’re pretty separate in terms of the content and the production process. But they do complement each other, but we never offered print + digital free. Never.

On what motivates her to get out of bed in the morning: The possibility of finding a new writer, the next best piece that I’m going to read and share with the world, with the mothers and the excitement of working with great writers. For someone who is a writer and a mother, I can’t think of anything better.

On whether she thinks Brain, Child will ever come back to print: Yes, absolutely. Some people will call me crazy for that, but we sort of had to get the revenue pieces in check. And as I said, Brain, Teen is a print product and our annual special issue is a print product, so we haven’t abandoned print.

On anything else that she’d like to add: Buying Brain, Child was the best thing that I ever did, outside of marrying my husband. (Laughs) I do want to be clear that Brain, Child is not print anymore, it’s just Brain, Teen that’s print.

On what keeps her up at night: Competition; that there’s more people publishing narrative than ever before. I think when Brain, Child started we were certainly the one and only person writing about motherhood, but now there are plenty of blogs and sites for women. I don’t feel we have the competition, but I worry about it.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Marcelle Soviero, Owner, Editor-In-Chief, Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers.

Samir Husni: Tell me about Brain, Child: The Magazine for Thinking Mothers; what made you buy the company?

Marcelle Soviero: I was a reader and a writer when my children were young. And I have five children, so I sort of grew them up with the magazine, if you will. I went to submit my writing to them one day, I’m an essayist and I have a few books, and it said that they were ceasing publication. So, I immediately called them up and told them that I wanted to buy it and asked what the picture looked like, because I still believed in the magazine.

I had had a career in magazine publishing and online publishing when I bought it, and I had just left a job where I was commuting to Chicago in a very high-powered corporate position, so it was like all of the stars came together and I bought the magazine within three weeks. I went down to Virginia and cut thousands of back issues and brought them up to Connecticut where I live, and I just started producing the magazine and keeping it going, so we only missed one issue when I bought it.

Samir Husni: Was it a business decision or a decision of passion that caused you to buy the magazine?

Marcelle Soviero: It was definitely a decision of passion. And then when it became real; when I called the owners and they told me that they hadn’t even thought of selling it; I started to do the numbers and thought that it really made sense and that I could make it work because I was so passionate about it. And the readership of the magazine was equally as passionate about it as I was, they had grown their kids up with it too, so it was a little bit of both, but definitely first passion and just a gut feeling that it was the right time to do it.

Samir Husni: And four years ago, did anyone say to you that you were crazy to invest in a print product for children; haven’t you heard that we live in a digital age?

Marcelle Soviero: Many people said that to me in jest, but in truth as well. And it has been hard; it’s not easy to keep it up, but we’re healthy and have a good readership. I certainly brought the magazine into the digital age; we have digital products and our social media footprint has gone up to 190,000 on Facebook. When I bought it we were at 8,000, so we’ve certainly developed a wider audience using digital tools and having digital products. No question about that. I sort of took advantage of that, while still producing the print magazine.

Samir Husni: If you met someone on the street and introduced yourself to them by telling them you were the owner, editor and publisher of Brain, Child magazine; the first question they might ask you is “what’s that?”

Marcelle Soviero: And my answer would be Brain, Child is the magazine for thinking mothers; it’s the largest, oldest literary magazine for mothers. And we’re distributed worldwide. And I also own and edit it.

Samir Husni: Tell me a little bit more about the content; what are you offering mothers today that they can’t find any other place?

Marcelle Soviero: We’re offering personal stories and narratives that are edited; we actually edit our pieces. These aren’t just long pieces slapped up on the Internet; we have a rigorous editing, fact-checking, proofreading system that’s expensive, but I will keep it in place because I believe in it.

So we offer personal stories and connection for women, one story at a time, for mothers in our community, to our pages and our digital products. It’s essays, fiction, poetry, debates and book reviews.

Samir Husni: Since you assumed ownership of the magazine, what has been the feedback that you’ve received? Could the legacy readership tell there was a new ownership with the magazine or have you kept the flow and pace, in terms of the content, the way it was before you bought it?

Marcelle Soviero: No, we did a whole redesign of the magazine after the first issue. We went in and sort of updated everything with a professional designer and we’ve had good feedback with that. In fact, what was most interesting was when I first took it over and it was announced by the previous owner that they weren’t going out of business that I was buying it instead; I received fan mail from around the world, literally, as though I were their knight in shining armor, thanking me for saving the magazine. There was just a ridiculous amount of passion and feedback, so that was the first step that fired my own passion to continue to do it.

I would say the connection with the readers is very good. The biggest thing we’ve done in more recent years is as I aged out of the magazine, because Brain, Child is for mothers who have children 0-12, is I introduced a special issue for parents of teens called, Brain, Teen. Basically I kept for mothers like me who grew up with it and now have teenagers; I kept the product line going so that we could really meet that need. And that has been our more successful product out of the two now in the last four years.

Samir Husni: When did you launch Brain, Teen?

Marcelle Soviero: In 2012.

Samir Husni: So at the same time that you were taking over Brain, Child?

Marcelle Soviero: Yes, I bought the magazine in August, 2012 and we began planning, and I think the issue actually came out in 2013, the special Brain, Teen issue. It was my immediate plan. It was the business idea that I thought of immediately to sort of bring the business up to speed.

That was a big change and the design was a big change and certainly we post edited, beautiful blog posts every day as we’ve built up this readership. Our social imprint online has become huge and I sort of tapped into that passion. As I said, we have a very large community on Facebook that’s highly engaged in terms of our numbers, compared to other sites that have a million followers and we have around 200,000. Our engagement can be as much as 100,000, which is half our audience.

Samir Husni: As I hear you talk about the magazine, I can hear the passion and fire in your voice. How do you handle everything as a mother of five kids? How big is your team; is Brain, Child Marcelle and a few others? Or do you have a large team working with you? I know you said that you have a very expensive fact-checking system in place that you don’t want to change.

Marcelle Soviero: Right. They are all consultants to the company, freelance, and I have a managing editor. Otherwise, certainly our writers are from all around the world. We get about 1,000 to 2,000 submissions each month for the magazine, both online and digital.

But I think my passion comes from being a writer and having intellectual stimulation in reading all of the submissions that come in. And I love the editing process, being a writer. It makes my own writing better and I realize that we’re doing something different in working with writers and improving the content to make it perfect to be seen by the public, again as opposed to just throwing stuff up online. I also believe in paying our writers. We pay our writers, not much; we’re a commercial magazine and we’re distributed widely, but we’re also a literary magazine and traditionally they’re not high-paying. And we’re not high-paying, but one of my premises, being a writer, is that I pay my writers.

Samir Husni: Let’s forget for a moment that you’re the owner of the magazine; as a writer do you feel a different reaction when you see your name in print as opposed to seeing your name online? Which excites you more and gives you that thrill of saying, look I’ve published something?

Marcelle Soviero: That’s a great question. I would say initially it was print that I found more exciting, but now, as I tell my authors, because we publish a lot more online than we do in print, the readership is so much greater online. It’s not even comparable; our circulation is relatively small, and as I said, I’ve already told you the numbers on our community pages and other digital outlets. So, in terms of actually having the writing out there, it’s become much more important to have the online byline, but my passion is to have my byline in print, I’d say.

Samir Husni: And why do you think print is still important in this digital age?

Marcelle Soviero: Our readers still like hard copy. I think print is important for this kind of content to sort of snuggle up with, while you’re feeding your baby even, and just be able to read and be stimulated intellectually with a magazine on your lap.

But we have a lot of digital adopters. Our print now is really the special issue for parents of teens and our annual anthology and our magazine is more digital and online now.

Samir Husni: In your four year journey with the magazine, has it always been smooth sailing, or have you had some choppy waters with major challenges along the way?

Marcelle Soviero: There have been many challenges and hurdles in just supporting a print magazine with the numbers being nearly impossible. And if we didn’t have the online component, I don’t think that I could do it. Just supporting the print and production and design process and doing it well, as I said, with the best writers; the best design team and things like that, has been a real challenge to make it work.

Samir Husni: Have you ever considered stopping the print edition and only staying online?

Marcelle Soviero: Brain, Child, actually, the original product, is online now. And our print product is Brain, Teen. And our special issues are print too.

Samir Husni: You said that without online you feel like you could not have survived, but how do you juggle between the need for print and the need for online? Do you view them as complementary to each other or as enemies? Is it print + digital for you or is it print or digital?

Marcelle Soviero: No, our magazine Brain, Child is only digital, it’s only online. And our print product, the special issue for parents of teens and our annual Greatest Hits, are print. So, they’re pretty separate in terms of the content and the production process. But they do complement each other, but we never offered print + digital free. Never. We always did print + and/or pay the same amount for digital.

Samir Husni: So you always charged for digital, there was nothing free? No welfare information society?

Marcelle Soviero: No. The issues were paid for. Obviously, our website is all free content and eventually what’s in print makes it to the website, but it’s much, much later on in the process.

Samir Husni: But the digital editions are paid for?

Marcelle Soviero: Correct.

Samir Husni: What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning and say it’s going to be a great day?

Marcelle Soviero: The possibility of finding a new writer, the next best piece that I’m going to read and share with the world, with the mothers and the excitement of working with great writers. For someone who is a writer and a mother, I can’t think of anything better. So, I’m excited and I always think that I’m going to find the next best piece, the next Pushcart Press Award. And I really love working with all of our writers.

Samir Husni: Do you think Brain, Child will ever come back to print?

Marcelle Soviero: Yes, absolutely. Some people will call me crazy for that, but we sort of had to get the revenue pieces in check. And as I said, Brain, Teen is a print product and our annual special issue is a print product, so we haven’t abandoned print.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Marcelle Soviero: Buying Brain, Child was the best thing that I ever did, outside of marrying my husband. (Laughs) I do want to be clear that Brain, Child is not print anymore, it’s just Brain, Teen that’s print.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Marcelle Soviero: Competition; that there’s more people publishing narrative than ever before. I think when Brain, Child started we were certainly the one and only person writing about motherhood, but now there are plenty of blogs and sites for women. I don’t feel we have the competition, but I worry about it. I think about somebody who really would start actively treating the process of producing a magazine and an online product like we’ve done, somebody who is larger and has more resources.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 2 Comments »

Woman’s Day Magazine: A Woman’s Helpmate With Heart, Passion And Zest That Is As Relevant Today As It Was Yesteryear – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Susan Spencer, Editor-In-Chief, Woman’s Day.

February 5, 2016

“No, never. I just can’t. I think it’s important for a legacy brand like ours to continue in print. I believe our readers want it very much. What’s happening in digital and on the website is amazing and wonderful, but I think that the print edition will always be core to our brand and core to what we do.” Susan Spencer (on whether she can ever envision Woman’s Day without a print component)

“Yes, I do. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now if I didn’t. I believe the question has almost become moot in the last few years. Readers have shown us time and time again that print magazines are here to stay. I love print magazines and I always have; it’s how I got into the business and I can’t imagine them going away.” Susan Spencer (on whether she believes in the future of print)

As far as legacy brands go, Woman’s Day holds a spot among the women’s service magazines that have texture and substance when it comes to longevity in the industry. The magazine’s content is as relevant today as it was nearly 80 years ago (79 to be exact) and has proven that fact with its total immersion into the wants and needs of its audience and a commitment to excellence in the coverage of many topics of interest, most especially health and food.

As the magazine gears up for its 13th Annual Red Dress Awards to be held February 9 at The Allen Room at Frederick P. Rose Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York, Editor-in-Chief Susan Spencer is passionate about the brand’s diligence to continue to heighten awareness of heart disease throughout the country.

I spoke with Susan recently and we talked about the Red Dress Awards, their past, present and future fusion with Woman’s Day and how readers and the public in general have come to recognize the Awards’ connection with the magazine. And we talked about the magazine itself, where it’s been and where it’s going and about how Susan believes that both print and digital together will be the catalyst that propels the legacy brand forward and keep it relevant and healthy for many, many more years to come, with the foundation and cornerstone core of print still being an integral part of the readership’s involvement with the brand.

Susan is as delightful as the magazine itself and brings an aura of joy, fun and animation to the brand that’s contagious. Zest and relevant information keeps the essence of Woman’s Day always reflective and pertinent to its audience and that’s just the way Susan wants it.

So, without further ado, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Susan Spencer, Editor-In-Chief, Woman’s Day.

But first, the sound-bites:

On what Woman’s Day means to its readers today, in the 21st century: Woman’s Day today, as it has done for many years, takes the concerns, the things that are truly relevant and important to her right now and really helps her. And I see us as a real helpmate to this woman; to make that complicated, messy life a little bit easier.

On how it feels to edit a magazine that Ellen Levine once edited: It has never felt awkward; I feel like I stand on Ellen’s shoulders and some other wonderful editors before me who I think created something that American women really turn to. And I think Ellen was pivotal and critical in doing that.

On the history of the Red Dress Awards: Again, turning to past editors, my predecessor, Jane Chesnutt, 13 years ago put together a luncheon to bring together some of the players in the heart disease world. I think at that time she felt that it was a disease that wasn’t getting a lot of attention, but it’s so pervasive and so huge in the lives of our women that she felt that it needed to be brought more into the open. And again, I’m standing on her shoulders; I think what I did when I came on four years ago was that I saw that the disease was still the number one killer of women and while a lot of progress has been made, it hasn’t gone far enough. I wanted to put more resources and more thinking and more pages against this disease.

On whether the power of the brand and the ink on paper magazine made it easier for the Red Dress Awards to be recognized and connect with readers: Yes, very much so. The amount of space that we devote to this topic, again, all year-round, I think our readers now associate us with the Awards. They don’t see it as simply a marketing cause, they see it as something that we’re really deeply passionate about and I think our readership has come to recognize that.

On how as editor-in-chief she maintains balance with the many diverse topics that the magazine covers: I’m both blessed and cursed to edit a magazine that covers many, many topics. (Laughs) Health and food, by far, are our two most important topics. We do a lot of research and Hearst has been very supportive of that. I’m a real research geek and Hearst has been very supportive of me and my desire to understand our reader. So, health and food are the two biggest topics.

On if she could instantly strike the magazine with a magic wand and turn it into a person, who that person would be, herself or some composite woman: I don’t think she would be me, although I come pretty close. I’m a suburban New Jersey mom like many of my readers. (Laughs) But I think that she’s a lot of women. Again, when you have an audience this big, she can be married or not married. She can be an empty-nester or a young mom. She can have kids or not have kids. So, I think that she’s a lot of different people.

On whether the Bible verse that remains today, even after all of the changes to the magazine, is part of its DNA and will never leave: I would say that it’s definitely part of the DNA that will never leave Woman’s Day. We have it there and we have no intention of taking it away. What’s important about the magazine is that we’re not a Christian magazine; we embrace many, many different viewpoints in the magazine and always have. But the Bible verse is intrinsic to who we are and what we are.

On the biggest stumbling block that she’s had to face: For me personally, I think my biggest stumbling block happened about four years ago when I started at this magazine and my publisher at the time told me that in a week I had to make a speech in front of about 500 people. (Laughs) That was a big stumbling block for someone who had never done any public speaking.

On the most pleasant moment so far that she’s had working at Woman’s Day: There have been so many pleasant moments that I can’t even begin to list them. I think getting this job in the first place was such a wonderful experience and I’m really deeply grateful for the opportunity that David Carey gave me four years ago. There have been some moments that have been sort of mindboggling. Last year standing next to Elvis Costello on the red carpet at the Red Dress Awards; I don’t think I’ve ever put up a Facebook post that’s gotten more likes than that one did. (Laughs) It was pretty amazing.

On what has kept Woman’s Day vibrant throughout the years: I think that we work really hard to stay relevant to our readers. When I mentioned research before, that’s definitely part of what we do. Women’s service magazines can tilt into evergreen territory very quickly and I think that we really work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen with Woman’s Day. We make sure that we’re relevant to the moment; our health coverage; in telling women what to cook for dinner; just the things that we put into the magazine, we’re reflecting their lives back at them and really trying to understand where they are.

On whether she can ever envision a day when there is no print component to Woman’s Day and it’s digital only: No, never. I just can’t. I think it’s important for a legacy brand like ours to continue in print. I believe our readers want it very much.

On whether she believes in the future of print: Yes, I do. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now if I didn’t. I believe the question has almost become moot in the last few years. Readers have shown us time and time again that print magazines are here to stay.

On how she got into the magazine business: A long time ago I graduated from college and moved to New York City and got a job at Redbook magazine. My first job was with Hearst and I have just been passionate about magazines my whole life and was a big consumer of Seventeen and Time magazine and Cricket magazine. I was able to get started and find a job and stay in this industry for almost 28 years now.

On what motivates her to get out of bed every morning: What I love about running a magazine is when I’m sitting in a meeting with my staff and suddenly we click on an idea and then all of us are firing up on all cylinders and this idea is being batted around and we’re figuring out how we’re going to do it and how it’s going to be pertinent and relevant and those are the moments that I live for, as I’m sure most editors do.

On what someone would find her doing if they showed up at her house one evening unexpectedly: As I said before, I’m a suburban New Jersey mom; I have two daughters, one of whom is at home and the other is in college. In the evenings, you might not even catch me at home. I might be driving my kid around or I do a ton of volunteering; I might be making dinner or trying to get my husband to do it. (Laughs again) Like my readers, I have a big, messy complicated life and I think if you were to come over in the evening you would catch a glimpse of that.

On anything else she’d like to add: I thank you for this opportunity. I think that Woman’s Day is a really special brand and I think that we speak to a mass market audience, but I think that we connect with her in a very special way.

On what keeps her up at night: (Laughs) Not much keeps me up at night. I’m usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day, to the point where my 12-year-old actually comes and tucks me in at night. Nothing keeps me from falling asleep.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Susan Spencer, Editor-In-Chief, Woman’s Day.

Samir Husni: When you hear the words Woman’s Day, what comes to your mind? Having a magazine that has always been a status quo on the newsstand; everybody has always known it and seen it and every woman has been in touch with the magazine on a regular basis, but what does Woman’s Day mean today?

Susan Spencer: When I think about our reader, she’s the average American woman. I think that’s the simple answer to who she is. But in reality I believe it’s a lot more complicated than that because she’s a lot more complicated and she has this wonderful, big, joyous, messy life and I think that the magazine today is reflecting that. And we’re adjusting her concerns and giving her solutions for all of the things that make her life messy, whether it’s wanting to get dinner on the table or not being sure of what clothes to buy in the store or house concerns, which are huge for our readers.

Woman’s Day today, as it has done for many years, takes the concerns, the things that are truly relevant and important to her right now and really helps her. And I see us as a real helpmate to this woman; to make that complicated, messy life a little bit easier.

Samir Husni: I asked Ellen Levine once how she felt when Woman’s Day came to Hearst; did it feel like a reunion or a homecoming? Do you ever have an awkward feeling that you’re editing a magazine that Ellen Levine once edited?

Susan Spencer: It has never felt awkward; I feel like I stand on Ellen’s shoulders and some other wonderful editors before me who I think created something that American women really turn to. And I think Ellen was pivotal and critical in doing that. So, I definitely stand on their shoulders, but I’m also moving it forward in my own way, with lots and lots of support from Ellen. I feel very grateful to work with her.

Samir Husni: I know you have a big event coming up on February 9, the Red Dress Awards. Can you tell me a little bit about the history of the Red Dress Awards and why it’s such a big event for Woman’s Day?

Susan Spencer: Again, turning to past editors, my predecessor, Jane Chesnutt, 13 years ago put together a luncheon to bring together some of the players in the heart disease world. I think at that time she felt that it was a disease that wasn’t getting a lot of attention, but it’s so pervasive and so huge in the lives of our women that she felt that it needed to be brought more into the open.

And again, I’m standing on her shoulders; I think what I did when I came on four years ago was that I saw that the disease was still the number one killer of women and while a lot of progress has been made, it hasn’t gone far enough. I wanted to put more resources and more thinking and more pages against this disease.

And because it’s so widespread and because our audience is so enormous, we have 16 million women, it touches everybody. Many of the cancers absolutely touch a lot of lives, but heart disease is different; it’s really, really widespread and pervasive in both men and women.

So, I put some more pages and ink against this idea; we started a column called “Live Longer and Stronger,” which is a monthly column, so we don’t just run our heart disease coverage in February, it’s year-round.

Out of that column we grew an editorial franchise called “Live Longer and Stronger.” And basically what we do is we go out and find a group of women, four to five women, every year that are at high risk or have heart disease and we put them on a plan with our nutritionist, Joy Bauer, and help them lose weight and lower their risk factors.

This program sprang out of our desire to bring to our readers what we’re saying in the magazine and really activate it for them. We just finished up with our third group and they’re going to be onstage February 9 at the Red Dress Awards and they bring a lot of heart to the event and a real sense that the event is more than just honoring the doctors and the researchers; it’s also about the women who are being impacted by this disease every day.

Samir Husni: Do you think the power of the brand; the power of the ink on paper magazine, made it easier for the Red Dress Awards to be recognized and known, to actually connect with the audience, with those women?

Susan Spencer: Yes, very much so. The amount of space that we devote to this topic, again, all year-round, I think our readers now associate us with the Awards. They don’t see it as simply a marketing cause, they see it as something that we’re really deeply passionate about and I think our readership has come to recognize that.

And not just heart disease, I have to say. We’ve had a halo effect, where it’s impacted all of our health coverage, which has become increasingly popular in recent years with our readership.

Samir Husni: As an editor-in-chief, how do you balance the health coverage with the food coverage with the everyday life coverage and as you continue to move Woman’s Day forward, what’s the secret recipe? What are the ingredients that you put together to create this magazine called Woman’s Day?

Susan Spencer: I’m both blessed and cursed to edit a magazine that covers many, many topics. (Laughs) Health and food, by far, are our two most important topics. We do a lot of research and Hearst has been very supportive of that. I’m a real research geek and Hearst has been very supportive of me and my desire to understand our reader. So, health and food are the two biggest topics.

As I said in the beginning of our conversation, she has concerns that range from “is this the right mascara” to “what am I going to put on the table for dinner.” So, we try to address those and we have a rich balance of content. I try to put together a magazine every month with the help of an amazing team that reflects back at her with all of these things. So, it’s a little bit of a balance certainly.

Samir Husni: If I gave you a magic wand that could instantly humanize the magazine, turn it miraculously into a person, who would that person be? Would it be you or some composite woman?

Susan Spencer: I don’t think she would be me, although I come pretty close. I’m a suburban New Jersey mom like many of my readers. (Laughs) But I think that she’s a lot of women. Again, when you have an audience this big, she can be married or not married. She can be an empty-nester or a young mom. She can have kids or not have kids. So, I think that she’s a lot of different people.

What we do when we think about her is not think about the details of her life; we think about her in terms of her values and I think that’s what pulls our readers together and that’s why they come to Woman’s Day because we do reflect her values back at her. We think about what’s really important to her. We know that her family is number one; they’re absolutely the most important thing that she values.

She’s also deeply involved with friends and her community. We’ve had a lot of success in the magazine with columns that show readers doing good deeds and helping other people. Her faith is also something that is important to some of our readers and drives them.

So, we think of her in those terms as opposed to what she is or who she is. It’s really more of the shared values that all of these women have.

Samir Husni: If you feel blessed and cursed because of the variety of the content; do you feel even more blessed and cursed for having all of these women rolled into one? (Laughs)

Susan Spencer: (Laughs too) No, I think it’s wonderful.

Samir Husni: One thing I’ve noticed over the years with Woman’s Day, with all of the changes that have taken place, that Bible verse is still there.

Susan Spencer: Yes.

Samir Husni: Is it part of the DNA that will never leave Woman’s Day?

Susan Spencer: I would say that it’s definitely part of the DNA that will never leave Woman’s Day. We have it there and we have no intention of taking it away. What’s important about the magazine is that we’re not a Christian magazine; we embrace many, many different viewpoints in the magazine and always have. But the Bible verse is intrinsic to who we are and what we are.

Samir Husni: It’s a positive lift-up verse then?

Susan Spencer: Certainly. It’s meant to put a little stamp on the table of contents and the magazine to give women a lovely moment that’s important to them.

Samir Husni: You’ve been at Woman’s Day now a little over four years; as you approach your next anniversary with the magazine, what has been the most challenging stumbling block that you’ve had to face and how did you overcome it?

Susan Spencer: For me personally, I think my biggest stumbling block happened about four years ago when I started at this magazine and my publisher at the time told me that in a week I had to make a speech in front of about 500 people. (Laughs) That was a big stumbling block for someone who had never done any public speaking. But with training and lots of support, I got through it.

Samir Husni: And what has been the most pleasant moment; if you can identify THE most pleasant moment so far in your four years?

Susan Spencer: There have been so many pleasant moments that I can’t even begin to list them. I think getting this job in the first place was such a wonderful experience and I’m really deeply grateful for the opportunity that David Carey gave me four years ago.

There have been some moments that have been sort of mindboggling. Last year standing next to Elvis Costello on the red carpet at the Red Dress Awards; I don’t think I’ve ever put up a Facebook post that’s gotten more likes than that one did. (Laughs) It was pretty amazing.

I presented an award two years ago to President Bill Clinton and last year to the head of the FDA, so we’ve really had some wonderful moments just in the context of Red Dress. And some wonderful moments just putting issues together and having stories that really resonate with our readers and with us and that makes every issue we do worth it. So, there have been a lot of wonderful moments.

Samir Husni: When I was in college in the early 80s, Woman’s Day was referred to as one of the seven sisters. Today, we’ve lost some of the seven sisters, they’ve aged and disappeared; some have renewed their energy and are still alive and kicking and doing very well. What’s the secret of Woman’s Day that has kept it vibrant over the years?

Susan Spencer: I think that we work really hard to stay relevant to our readers. When I mentioned research before, that’s definitely part of what we do. Women’s service magazines can tilt into evergreen territory very quickly and I think that we really work hard to make sure that doesn’t happen with Woman’s Day. We make sure that we’re relevant to the moment; our health coverage; in telling women what to cook for dinner; just the things that we put into the magazine, we’re reflecting their lives back at them and really trying to understand where they are.

I’d also like to say about the magazine; we’re not an aspirational magazine, we’re an inspirational magazine. We’re not showing her the life that we think she should have; we’re celebrating the life that she has right now. And I think that goes a long way toward keeping us relevant. I’d like to share a quote with you that I got from a reader; she started following me on Instagram and in the comments she thanked me for the magazine and was really excited about it and she said that it helped her to be “the woman that she really was, rather than the woman marketers said that she was.” And I really like that. It’s very nice.

Samir Husni: As you get all of the social media interaction: the Instagram comments; the likes on Facebook; can you ever envision a day when Woman’s Day has no print component and is digital only?

Susan Spencer: No, never. I just can’t. I think it’s important for a legacy brand like ours to continue in print. I believe our readers want it very much. What’s happening in digital and on the website is amazing and wonderful, but I think that the print edition will always be core to our brand and core to what we do.

Samir Husni: Do you believe in the future of print?

Susan Spencer: Yes, I do. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now if I didn’t. I believe the question has almost become moot in the last few years. Readers have shown us time and time again that print magazines are here to stay. I love print magazines and I always have; it’s how I got into the business and I can’t imagine them going away.

Samir Husni: How did you get into the business?

Susan Spencer: A long time ago I graduated from college and moved to New York City and got a job at Redbook magazine. My first job was with Hearst and I have just been passionate about magazines my whole life and was a big consumer of Seventeen and Time magazine and Cricket magazine. I was able to get started and find a job and stay in this industry for almost 28 years now. I feel very fortunate.

Samir Husni: After 28 years in the industry, what motivates you to get out of bed every morning and still be excited about your job?

Susan Spencer: A couple of things. First of all, I’m a natural problem solver; it’s something that I really enjoy doing and I really love a good challenge. So, that definitely gets me up in the morning, knowing that I have a pile of problems that I have to solve.

What I love about running a magazine is when I’m sitting in a meeting with my staff and suddenly we click on an idea and then all of us are firing up on all cylinders and this idea is being batted around and we’re figuring out how we’re going to do it and how it’s going to be pertinent and relevant and those are the moments that I live for, as I’m sure most editors do. And it’s being in the company of people who are just so creative and know their brand and their audience so well that you can really come up with these amazing ideas and figure out how to execute them.

Samir Husni: If I were to show up unexpectedly to your home one evening, what would I find you doing, reading a magazine; reading your iPad; watching TV, or something else?

Susan Spencer: You’re always invited. (Laughs) As I said before, I’m a suburban New Jersey mom; I have two daughters, one of whom is at home and the other is in college. In the evenings, you might not even catch me at home. I might be driving my kid around or I do a ton of volunteering; I might be making dinner or trying to get my husband to do it. (Laughs again) Like my readers, I have a big, messy complicated life and I think if you were to come over in the evening you would catch a glimpse of that.

Samir Husni: How often do you cook the recipes that you feature in the magazine?

Susan Spencer: A lot, although my food director wants me to cook them more than I do. It’s more a reflection of the time I have to actually cook. It’s one of the secret benefits of being editor-in-chief of Woman’s Day; I can run up to an incredibly accomplished and experienced food director and ask what should I make for dinner? (Laughs) And she has an answer for me.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Susan Spencer: I thank you for this opportunity. I think that Woman’s Day is a really special brand and I think that we speak to a mass market audience, but I think that we connect with her in a very special way. I love talking about the magazine and reminding people that we have scale and we have voice and I think it’s a pretty amazing group of women that we speak to, so it’s a real privilege.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Susan Spencer: (Laughs) Not much keeps me up at night. I’m usually pretty exhausted by the end of the day, to the point where my 12-year-old actually comes and tucks me in at night. Nothing keeps me from falling asleep.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views, The Mr. Magazine™ Interview | 1 Comment »

Cover Data Analysis For Editors at the ACT 6 Experience: Celebrate Print Celebrate Magazines: April 20 to 22, 2016

February 2, 2016

In the spring of 2016, as the earth is celebrating her rebirth; the ACT 6 Experience will be having a celebration of its own on the power of print, with an emphasis on magazines. The Experience will be divided into three main mini themes:

· Reimagining the Newsstands
· Celebration of Magazine Launches
· Magazine Power

Cover Data Analysis For Editors – Join us for a riveting panel discussion about how print editorial staffs can learn more about consumers, their likes/dislikes, and how to attract more newsstand buyers in a competitive, distracted world. Our panel of distinguished editors from Reader’s Digest, Southern Living, First for Women, Simple Grace and Hoffman Media will discuss and dissect magazine cover lines, cover image types, positioning, and “do’s” and “don’ts” regarding covers, all using smart data modeling.

The Cover Data Analysis For Editors panel will take place on Thursday April 21 at 11:15 am and will be moderated by Joshua Gary from MagNet together with (in alphabetical order):
Brooke Bell, Director of Editorial Operations, Hoffman Media,
Sid Evans, Editor in Chief, Southern Living magazine,
Carey Ostergard, Deputy Editor, First for Women and Simple Grace,
and Liz Vaccariello, Editor in Chief, Reader’s Digest magazine.

The ACT 6 Experience will open by a keynote on the evening of April 20th, Sid Evans, editor-in-chief, Southern Living magazine. Sid will take the attendees on a journey of how the magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The first and a very important segment of the ACT 6 Experience is reimagining the newsstand. This segment starts on Thursday April 21 at 8:30 am. America without newsstand is inconceivable. I believe the newsstands are the best reflectors of our society. Our ears have been filled with nothing but bad news about newsstand sales over the last few years; it’s time for us to rethink the newsstand business from each and every aspect, from the role of the national distributor to the wholesaler, retailer and not forgetting of course, the publisher; the people who actually produce the magazines or bookazines for newsstands.

Gil Brechtel and Josh Gary from MagNet will be coordinating the“Reimagining the Newsstand” segment at the ACT 6 Experience.

The focus will be the newsstand business, to include its relevancy to publishers, how to stabilize it, as well as the current and perhaps future roles of each of the channel members…wholesaler, national distributor, retailer, and publisher, and how we as an industry engage the retailer to promote and increase sales. Wholesaler participants to date are David Parry, President & CEO of TNG and Shawn Everson, Chief Commercial Officer of Ingram Content Group. Rich Jacobsen, the President & CEO of Time Inc. Retail will be the national distributor participant.

To illustrate how important the newsstand channel is three CEOs of magazine media companies are also going to join this segment of the ACT 6 Experience. They are Hubert Boehle, CEO of Bauer Magazine L.P., Andy Clurman, CEO of AIM (Active Interest Media) and Eric Hoffman, CEO of Hoffman Media.

Prior to the presentations and panel discussion John Harrington will open the segment by presenting a recap of the history of the newsstand channel since its inception through its present status.

This is going to be the first think and do interactive panel that will examine the entire status of the newsstand channel and make concrete recommendations to help ease the newsstand problems that publishers, national distributors, wholesalers and retailers are facing today.

To register for the Magazine Innovation Center’s ACT 6 Experience, click here. Space is limited. The Amplify, Clarify and Testify (ACT) Experience is not a conference, it is an experience. Register today.

Watch this space as we announce the speakers for the other two important segments of the experience: Magazine Power and Magazine Launches.

Stay tuned.

Posted in Innovation in print, Magazine Power, News and Views | Leave a Comment »

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Woman’s Day Magazine: A Woman’s Helpmate With Heart, Passion And Zest That Is As Relevant Today As It Was Yesteryear – The Mr. Magazine™ Interview With Susan Spencer, Editor-In-Chief, Woman’s Day.

Cover Data Analysis For Editors at the ACT 6 Experience: Celebrate Print Celebrate Magazines: April 20 to 22, 2016

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